ESTEVAN — The importance of safety in the workplace was emphasized during the annual Safety Stand Down on Jan. 10 at the Southeast College’s Estevan campus.
Nearly 200 people attended the event, which was organized by Independent Well Servicing (IWS) and Crescent Point Energy Corp. The audience listened to a presentation from Calgary’s Gary McDougall with Conflict Solutions.
“Gary is a retired Calgary police officer. He worked in SWAT and he also was a specialist in hostage negotiation and crisis management. So, he brings a lot to the table in regards to dealing with difficult conversations at work and at home and at anywhere,” said Brian Crossman, a field supervisor/sales with IWS.
Thanks to his law enforcement background, the organizers of the Safety Stand Down thought McDougall would be a good person to discuss resolving conflict.
People who attended the Safety Stand Down came away with tools, such as the importance of tone in conversation. McDougall explained the importance of saying “Why not?” instead of “Why?” or “What else?”, and he emphasized the importance of validating other people’s opinions to diffuse a situation.
“Instead of using the word ‘but’, say the word ‘and’. Things like that. Telling people to chill out, calm down and take a pill are usually not effective, and can escalate a situation, so you’re better off to find other ways to converse with people instead of using that kind of language,” McDougall said.
Crossman described McDougall as a very good speaker who wasn’t afraid to incorporate humour into his speech, so it was worthwhile to bring him to Estevan.
The safety Stand Down message might not be directly connected to safety this year, he said, but it is safety related because a heated conversation can turn into something worse.
“Some days at work, we have difficult moments, and this hopefully gives everyone some tools to keep a situation from escalating to something worse, and hopefully we can all learn from that and be safer in our workplaces,” said Crossman.
The event attracted people from various areas of the oilpatch, plus the Workers Compensation Board and the provincial Ministry of Energy and Resources. All service rigs working for Crescent Point and IWS shut down for the day, allowing the employees to attend during the afternoon.
“That’s the goal is to get the guys who are out working in the field to attend these things.”
Crossman had not heard McDougall speak before, but a friend recommended McDougall. They met in Calgary on business a few years ago with the intent of bringing McDougall to Estevan, but then the pandemic hit, cancelling the Safety Stand Down for 2021 and 2022 and delaying McDougall’s visit.
“I kept him in the back of my mind, and so when we thought it was safe to do so … I contacted him and he was happy to do the event with us,” said Crossman.
It was nice to be able to have everyone come together again and hear a speaker to make the industry better, Crossman said.
“I think it’s important that we all try to do better, and this is our way of trying to make the industry safer, for everything from Worker’s Compensation claims … to serious injuries and worse,” said Crossman.
