Page 59 - Peterson 85 Years and Going Strong

S.T.A.R.T. teaches the importance of safety at the
most fundamental level—the human element. It addresses the fact that we’re dealing with people’s lives.
– Stephan Zalesky, corporate services operations manager, Peterson-Cat
S.T.A.R.T. safety training in San Leandro in December 2019
One thing Carr is adamant about: “I tell all the new hires to stop anytime they’re unsure of some- thing, or if someone asks them to do something they’re not 100% sure how to do, because there is no guessing. This stuff can kill you. The guys that have been around know that and have respect for the equipment. They’re scared of it still. But many of the young kids coming in don’t know to be scared of it.” One of the warnings Carr uses all the time with new hires, comes from Jim Keating, San Leandro main shop foreman: All this yellow stuff out there is trying to kill you. And you will not win.
PETERSON’S SAFETY REBOOT
One of the things that led to Peterson’s rekindled focus on safety came via Caterpillar. Cat dou- bled-down on safety in 2007-08 when they bought a safety consulting firm in Portland, now called Cat Safety Services. A few years later, they be- gan recommending that their dealers attend their classes. For Stephan Zalesky, Peterson’s director of product support operations in charge of Safe- ty, their S.T.A.R.T. course was the turning point.2 In December 2019, he and the entire leadership
Stephan Zalesky
team took the course. “S.T.A.R.T. teaches the importance of safety at the most fundamental level —the human element. It addresses the fact that we’re dealing with peo- ple’s lives and, first and foremost, we want them to be able to go home to
their families, and be able to do the hobbies and things they love. That’s why we do all this.”
Peterson’s renewed emphasis on safety really kicked off in May 2018 with an executive lead- ership meeting. Out of that meeting, Duane Sr. appointed three action groups to focus on safety awareness, accountability and policy. Each team was charged with coming up with initiatives to fur- ther Peterson along on its safety journey. “Not only did we need to figure out what we were going to do,” explains Duane Sr., “but we needed everyone to be involved and committed to it. The best way to do that is to get people involved in the solution. Then you’ve got a much better chance of success and accelerating the adoption of those new ideas.”
2 S.T.A.R.T. stands for Safety Training Accountability and Recognition Techniques
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