This summer, Mid-States Concrete Industries welcomed two students from the University of Wisconsin – Whitewater to serve as Safety Interns.

Ryan Santas will be a senior at University of Wisconsin – Whitewater in the fall, majoring in Occupational Safety and Health. Tyler Orr is a senior at University of Wisconsin – Whitewater, majoring in Occupational Safety and Health with a construction emphasis. He is slated to graduate in August after he completes his capstone internship with Mid-States.

The interns have been working closely with our safety team, which includes Mike Wolff, Vice President of Safety and Quality; Tracy Miller, Safety Manager; and Jeff Morris, Safety and Continuous Improvement Auditor, on various safety projects.

At the start of each student’s internship in May, they each pitched some ideas for projects they thought Mid-States would benefit from and that they would like to work on. Both Santas and Orr came up with their ideas during a site tour of the Mid-States Concrete facilities.

This is the first time Mid-States has had safety interns. The idea came about as Wolff was working to get his graduate degree and a professor of his suggested that since Mid-States is in both the construction and manufacturing fields, it would offer a unique experience to students pursuing safety. Plus, Wolff saw the benefits of having some extra help with updating Job Safety Analyses and Standard Work Instructions.

“With safety, it’s never-ending really,” Wolff said. “It’s ever-changing. There’s always something new.”

One of the two main projects Santas is working on includes a Swing/Fall project, which examines fall protection in the field during hollow core erection. He is diving into the details of fall restraint systems to help Mid-States eliminate any hazard of a fall and revising our Fall Protection Plan. He is working with the Safety Team, as well as the Project Management Team and Field Service Team on this project and has been able to visit several job sites for his research.

“Being out in the field and working with everyone in the field interested me,” he said.

Santas is also working on revising the Mid-States Job Safety Analyses and Standard Work Instructions, as well as filling in some gaps of missing SWIs for some of our erection processes. He will also be responsible for training the team on all updates and revisions, as well as conducting field audits.

One of Orr’s main focuses is on fall rescue, particularly researching and suggesting the best products available for purchase for our Field Team to use to conduct fall rescues. He has had previous experience in fall rescue at other jobs/internships, but this is the first time he has gotten to actually select equipment. He will also be responsible for updating the fall protection plan to incorporate rescue, as well as train the team on the updates and audit it in the field.

Additionally, Orr will focus on back injuries within our production team. His goal is to look back at our OSHA logs, safety alerts, and near misses over the past four years to see if there are similarities between the injuries and look for cause to see what changes we can make to increase back safety for our team.

“I feel like back injuries are always big in construction environments,” Orr said.

In addition to their two main projects each, the safety interns will also conduct two stop audits/week, conduct one field audit/week, conduct plant inspections, participate in the insurance safety audits, perform accident investigations, attend daily operations meetings, participate in an OSHA consultation audit, achieve their OSHA 30 hour certification, help with new hire training, and assist with Safety Days.

If time allows, other projects the intern team would like to focus on include investigating equipment hitting other equipment; reviewing and revising lock out tagout energy control procedures; investigate slip/trip hazards; revise the Plant Safety Audit Process; and so much more.

Both are enjoying the experience they are gaining with Mid-States and hope to apply it to future careers. Orr would like to hold a construction safety position, similar to that of our Safety Team, and Santas plans to go into the insurance industry to work with businesses to increase their understanding of the importance of safety.

“Both also really want to help people,” Wolff said.

Both Orr and Santas will present out to the Mid-States Leadership Team at the completion of their projects.