HazTek is spotlighting Safety Professional Ron Rogers who joined our team last year and works out of our Strategic Accounts group. Ron has been married for close to 30 years and he and his wife have four grown children, one grandchild, three rescue dogs, a cat, and a tortoise. Ron’s hobbies include “basically any outdoor activity with family and friends.”

Ron’s safety career began while he was working for a manufacturing facility. As a machine job trainer, he was required to attend monthly safety training. One morning, during a 3 a.m. training module on hearing protection, the safety manager stood with his back to the group and read, verbatim, from the same training slide presentation that the team had all seen for the past few years. Trying to get a laugh, Ron mockingly questioned the safety manager’s training methods. The safety manager called him out and said, “If you think you can do better, then come on up!” Ron accepted the challenge, stood in front of the class, faced the group, and then proceeded to discuss the particulars of hearing protection and the signs of hearing loss. He also related hearing protection to the attendees’ personal reasons for maintaining their hearing — kids, grandchildren, hobbies, music, etc. The next day, Ron was brought in front of the plant manager. As Ron sat there, expecting to hear that he was in trouble, the plant manager told him that he had been in the training class and that he had been amazed at how easily Ron had connected with the employees. The plant manager offered Ron a safety manager position, including full college tuition and all certifications. Ron took the job and then spent the next 18 years as the plant safety manager. Ron is pretty sure that his career path would have gone in an entirely different direction had he not been the wise guy in class.

Thank you for sharing your story, Ron. We’re happy to have you as part of the HazTek team!