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Health and Safety Services, Industrial Hygiene, Industrial Safety Equipment, Occupational Health and Safety, Safety Training & Consulting Services

Total Safety Celebrates Leading Safety Milestone With Two Million Hours Without OHSA Recordable

Houston, TX—Total Safety’s Fire Services group has reached an industry leading safety milestone – two million hours without an Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) recordable.

Celebrating two million non-recordable hours is a significant accomplishment. This milestone was achieved, in part, due to Total Safety’s commitment to continuous improvement in its safety culture. Safety is Total’s core value – the safety of its employees and customers. An active participant of OSHA’s Voluntary Protection Program, it currently has seven Star VPP sites.

“As a safety company, our focus is 100 percent on the Wellbeing of Workers Worldwide.  Achieving two million hours without a recordable incident speaks volumes to the commitment of our employees. Our employees believe in safety and their hard work and dedication is represented in this milestone,” said Steve Long, Director of HSEQ for Total Safety.  “Our Fire Services team works in very unique and hazardous conditions. Our employees take pride in leading our safety culture and we are very proud of their accomplishment.”

The Fire Services team provide Total Safety clients with cost-effective and comprehensive risk mitigation strategies around complex worker and facility fire protection needs.

As defined by OSHA, a recordable case is an occupational work injury or illness requiring medical treatment beyond first aid, or an injury or illness that requires an employee to record days away from normal work.

 

About Total Safety

Total Safety, a Warburg Pincus portfolio company, is the world’s premier provider of integrated compliance, personnel and professional safety solutions and the products necessary to support them. It operates from 142 locations in over 20 countries to ensure the safe Wellbeing of Workers Worldwide (W3). For more information about Total Safety, visit www.totalsafety.com.

 

For additional information contact:

Darrell Whitley

Senior Vice President – Market Development and Enterprise Sales

713-353-7108

 

Uncategorized

Field Safety to Service: Troy Thacker

With experience on both sides—the investor and the “invested”—Troy Thacker comes from the PE world and has more recently been serving stints as CEO of environmental services companies, one a major provider of services to upstream oil and gas companies and the other a firm claiming to be the world’s leading safety services company. Thacker was CEO of R360 Environmental Solutions Inc. (Houston, TX), operator of 26 waste treat­ment and recycling facilities in Louisiana, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Texas, and Wyoming, when it was sold to solid waste management company Waste Connections, Inc. (The Woodlands, TX) in October 2012.

R360, which was backed by four PE firms, had been “reviewing a variety of options, one of which was to go public,” Thacker tells EBJ. In the natural course of looking for an exit strategy, “the option to do a transaction with Waste Connections made a lot of sense for us, for them, and for the customer base. It was a really ter­rific deal for all involved.”

In July 2013, Thacker was appointed CEO of Houston-based Total Safety, a provider of industrial safety and compli­ance services operating from 141 offices in 20 countries. Since late 2011, Total Safety has been a portfolio company of Warburg Pincus, a PE giant that has invested more than $45 billion in over 675 companies around the world.

Indeed, “the sponsorship by Warburg Pincus was a big part of my decision to join Total Safety,” Thacker says. “They are a well-respected and large private equity firm, with intimate knowledge of our in­dustry and our goals, and they have very deep pockets.” Total Safety “was well-capi­talized from the start, and it was given a war chest to pursue more growth oppor­tunities. We have substantial dry powder in reserve.”

The acquisition by Warburg Pincus was “a banker-run process” that included evaluations of both financial and strategic buyers, according to Stenning Schueppert, Total Safety’s senior vice president for strat­egy, marketing, and corporate develop­ment. “We did not look at the S-1 option, and we’re still not going to go public,” he adds. “The strategic buyers were involved, but the financial buyers presented a more attractive package.”

With Warburg Pincus’s backing, Total Safety’s growth strategy will be aggressive but with a conservative capital structure, according to Thacker. “We’ll balance our organic growth and investments in green­field opportunities and capital equipment with merger and acquisition opportuni­ties. We’ll be conservative on debt versus equity, with deals involving a combination of the two.”

Warburg Pincus “allows us to run the business,” says Thacker. Put another way, “we’ll make returns for them by building our business and not through financial en­gineering.”

In terms of acquisitions, Warburg Pin­cus “will be involved in the larger oppor­tunities we’ll be looking at, but the smaller opportunities will be identified and pur­sued by our internal management team,” says Schueppert. “If we need to access additional capital on the capital markets, they have the depth and breadth to assist us.” With regard to actual deals, “we are having a broad array of conversations and hope you will see us getting pretty active in the next 12 months,” he notes.

As for an exit strategy for Warburg Pin­cus, that’s open-ended, says Thacker. “If we build a great business, the exit strategy will make itself known in the future. Our focus is and will always be growing a great company.”

Source: Environmental Business Journal

 

Safety Equipment for Rent, Specialized Safety Personnel, Turnaround Support Service Solutions, Western Refining

Western Refining’s El Paso Refinery Receives Total Safety’s ‘Safety Innovation’ Award

Houston, TX—Western Refining’s El Paso Refinery is the recipient of Total Safety’s “Safety Innovation” Award for its approach to improving safety within the workplace. Western Refining Inc. (NYSE: WNR) is an independent oil refiner and marketer, headquartered in El Paso, Texas, operating mostly in the southwestern and western United States.

Total Safety, the world’s leading integrated industrial safety services company, awards its Safety Innovation Award to companies that make incredible and cutting-edge advancements in areas of safety. David Johnson, sales manager of professional and technical services, Total Safety, nominated Western Refining for the award.

“Western Refining’s innovative approach to safety is apparent through its use of pilot projects designed to increase worker safety. In this industry, ‘change’ can be difficult to implement, especially when it comes to safety policies and procedures, but Western Refining actively seeks out ways to improve its safety culture,” explains Mr. Johnson.

Total Safety’s Centralized Confined Space Monitoring System (CCSMS), a new technology designed to improve safety within permit-required confined spaces, has been implemented as a pilot project for a number of refineries to increase worker safety. Total Safety’s exclusively-licensed and patented CCSMS utilizes a central control center that continuously identifies workers within permit-required confined spaces; maintains visual contact and a clear line of two-way communication with workers inside and outside the permit space; monitors the atmosphere of the permit space for toxic or dangerous gases; and sounds appropriate alarms if an incident occurs.

Watch our Centralized Confined Space Monitoring System video on our website at TotalSafety.com/CCSMS

 

About Total Safety

Total Safety, a Warburg Pincus portfolio company, is the world’s premier provider of integrated safety and compliance services and the products necessary to support them, including gas detection, respiratory protection, safety training, fire protection, compliance and inspection, industrial hygiene, onsite emergency medical treatment/paramedics, communications systems, engineered systems design, and materials management. It operates from 142 locations in 20 countries to ensure the safe Wellbeing of Workers Worldwide (W3).

Total Safety has been selected as one of “America’s Safest Companies” for 2012 by EHS Today, in addition to receiving the “Best in Class” award from the Houston Business Roundtable, multiple AFPM Awards, and a host of industry and customer safety accolades.

 

For additional information, contact:

Stenning Schueppert

Senior Vice President – Strategy, Marketing & Corporate Development, Total Safety

713-353-7182

 

 

Industrial Safety Service Centers, Industrial Safety Services & Equipment

Meet Z-Safety Services: Safety Services and Equipment for Europe

Z-Safety Services is Total Safety’s European division that provides the same great industrial safety services and equipment of which Total Safety is known.

Let us know how we can help keep your workers safe worldwide by contacting us at +1.888.32.TOTAL (86825) or at mail@totalsafety.com.

The video is available in 4 languages. To view the video in another language, visit Z-SafetyServices.org.

 

Industrial Safety Services & Equipment

Total Safety Appoints Troy W. Thacker President and Chief Executive Officer

Houston, TX—July 23, 2013 — Total Safety, the world’s leading integrated safety services company, today announced that Troy W. Thacker has been appointed President and Chief Executive Officer (“CEO”), effective August 5, 2013. Mr. Thacker succeeds David E. Fanta who will retire.  Mr. Fanta will transition to the role of Special Advisor to the CEO to ensure a smooth leadership changeover. He also will maintain his position on the Company’s Board of Directors.

Mr. Thacker previously served as President and CEO of R360 Environmental Solutions, the nation’s leading oilfield environmental solutions company, where he successfully expanded the company’s service offerings and capacity as the leading independent provider of environmentally-conscious waste disposal, recycling and treatment solutions to oil and gas producers.  Before joining R360, Mr. Thacker served as a Founding Partner of Paine & Partners, LLC, a private equity firm, where he was a member of the firm’s Investment Committee and led investments in the energy, power, and industrial services sectors.

“On behalf of Total Safety’s Board, I am pleased to welcome Troy, who brings a unique set of skills and valuable industry experience to the Company.  Troy shares Total Safety’s commitment to excellence and we are fortunate to have Troy join us to lead Total Safety into its next chapter of growth,” said David A. Barr, Board Director, Total Safety and Managing Director, Warburg Pincus.  “I also want to thank Dave for his dedication and contributions to Total Safety over the past nine years, and wish him the best in his retirement.  We look forward to benefiting from the continuity of Dave’s involvement.”

Commenting on his appointment, Mr. Thacker said, “Total Safety is uniquely positioned to continue to service the needs of its customers who seek high-quality safety and compliance solutions.  I am excited to join the Total Safety team and look forward to leading the Company as it continues to strive towards maximizing its growth potential.”

“It has been an honor to have served as Total Safety’s President and CEO during this period of strong growth and to have worked with a terrific group of employees dedicated to building the global leader in safety and compliance services,” said Mr. Fanta. “Now is the ideal time to transition the leadership of Total Safety to Troy in order to enable the Company take the next steps to capitalize on the opportunities for continued success.”

About Total Safety
Total Safety, a Warburg Pincus portfolio company, is the world’s premier provider of integrated industrial safety and compliance services and the products necessary to support them, including gas detection, respiratory protection, safety training, fire protection, compliance and inspection, industrial hygiene, onsite emergency medical treatment/paramedics, communications systems, engineered systems design, and materials management. It operates from 141 locations in 19 countries to ensure the safe Wellbeing of Workers Worldwide (W3).

Total Safety has been selected as one of “America’s Safest Companies” for 2012 by EHS Today, in addition to receiving the “Best in Class” award from the Houston Business Roundtable, multiple AFPM Awards, and a host of industry and customer safety accolades. For more information about Total Safety and its unwavering commitment to safety, visit www.totalsafety.com.

For additional information, contact:
Stenning Schueppert
Senior Vice President – Strategy, Marketing & Corporate Development, Total Safety
713-353-7182

Community Involvement, Industrial Safety Equipment

Total Safety Partners with Serve Moore to Support Victims of Devastating Oklahoma Tornado

Total Safety Supports Victims of Moore Oklahoma TornadoTotal Safety employees are supporting local efforts to aid and assist the victims of the devastating tornados that swept through Oklahoma in May. The company has sent volunteers to assist with clean up, along with truckloads of safety equipment and supplies, including hard hats, safety glasses, Tyvek® coveralls, respirators and gloves.

“Our Total Safety volunteers, working alongside the Serve Moore organization, will do their best to help insure safety in the communities where we work and live,” says Terrell Sosebee, Total Safety account manager.  “We know we are only a handful of the countless volunteers helping out, but we’re proud to contribute the time and equipment we can.”

The Serve Moore organization currently is in need of volunteers to clear up home sites, parks, and right of ways in Moore, Oklahoma. Two dozen people lost their lives, hundreds were injured, and thousands of individuals have lost their homes as a result of the EF5-rated tornado.

David Fanta, Total Safety CEO, expressed, “Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims of this storm and their families. Our desire is to support relief efforts as best we can in hopes that we can lessen the burden on those affected.”

To get involved through either volunteering or donations, visit www.ServeMoore.com.

About Total Safety
Total Safety, a Warburg Pincus portfolio company, is the world’s premier provider of integrated safety and compliance solutions and the products necessary to support them, including gas detection, respiratory protection, safety training, fire protection, compliance and inspection, industrial hygiene, onsite emergency medical treatment/paramedics, communications systems, engineered systems design, and materials management. It operates from 141 locations in 19 countries to ensure the safe Wellbeing of Workers Worldwide (W3).

Total Safety has been selected as one of “America’s Safest Companies” for 2012 by EHS Today, in addition to receiving the “Best in Class” award from the Houston Business Roundtable, multiple AFPM Awards, and a host of industry and customer safety accolades. For more information about Total Safety and its unwavering commitment to safety, visit www.totalsafety.com.

For additional information, contact:
Stenning Schueppert
Senior Vice President – Strategy, Marketing & Corporate Development, Total Safety
713-353-7182

Environment Health and Safety (EHS) Services, Health and Safety (EHS) Services, Occupational Health and Safety

Keeping Workers Safe in High Heat

Although no specific Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) standards cover heat stress, the General Duty Clause protects employees against heat-related illnesses due to the hazard’s serious nature.

While most will readily acknowledge it’s important to keep body temperature stable to prevent heat illness or even death, but many don’t recognize the basic factors involved so they can quickly and readily recognize when heat illness is occurring or, better yet, to prevent it in the first place.

Heat Stress Factors

Two primary sources contribute to overheating: (1) environmental conditions and (2) internal heat generated by physical labor. While each factor may not be present every time, a combination of the two could increase risk.

Since the body cools itself through sweating, air temperature is imperative to maintaining a consistent internal temperature. Sweating does not cool the body unless the skin’s moisture can evaporate. However, if the air temperature is warmer than the skin, the body cannot lose heat, and its ability to maintain an acceptable body temperature may be significantly impaired.

Associated Safety and Health Hazards

Safety hazards tend to occur more frequently in high heat/high humidity environments due to many contributing factors, including sweaty palms, dizziness and fogging of safety glasses. In more extreme cases, mental confusion, tiredness and irritability could cause impaired judgment resulting in safety hazards.

Please be aware of certain health hazards that occur more frequently in high heat/high humidity environments, like heat cramps, fainting, heat rash, heat exhaustion and, most dangerous of all, heat stroke.

Heat illness victims should be treated by providing cool water to drink and moving the person to a cool or shaded area—none of which are easy when working in remote locations. Easy and quick options to combat heat illness is to bring onsite cooling trailers equipped with air conditioning or misting fans and have water stations set up around the facility or worksite.

Creating a Work/Rest Schedule

W When possible, more-frequent, shorter periods of heat exposure are better than fewer, longer exposures. Rest periods do not necessarily mean that workers are on break; these can be productive times. During the rest periods, workers may continue to perform mild or light work such as completing paperwork, sorting small parts, attending a meeting, or receiving training.

Work/rest schedules are often based on 1-hour cycles and might call for a rest period of 15 minutes every hour during hot weather, but 45 minutes per hour when temperature and humidity are extreme. Keep in mind that workers wearing flame-resistant cotton or chemical-resistant suits will experience increased body temperature of approximately 10-degrees more than wearing normal work clothing.

The following table acts as a guideline for creating work/rest schedules for workers, assuming the worker is wearing a chemical-resistant suit, gloves, boots and a respirator:

OSHA's Work/Rest Schedule for High Heat Environments

Tips for Prevention

Preventative tips from OSHA (and their website) and many other organizations are available to workers and employers to protect against heat-related illnesses, including awareness of heat illness symptoms and response, adequately utilizing shaded areas for resting, and drinking plenty of cool water.

To learn more about Total Safety and its unwavering commitment to ensure the safe wellbeing of workers worldwide, contact them at 888.44.TOTAL or at mail@totalsafety.com.

Emergency Response Services, Occupational Health and Safety

Are You Ready for Real-Time Emergency Response?

While many facilities have a written Emergency Action Plan (EAP) in place, they may not consider all environmental and hazardous conditions. A well-developed Emergency Action Plan facilitates and organizes company and employee responses during workplace emergencies, resulting in fewer and less severe injuries and, possibly, less facility structural damage.

A facility’s EAP is imperative to worker safety, of course, and can likely handle contained events, like fires. But what about a chemical release? A natural disaster? A terrorist threat? Evacuation might not always be the best response to a given emergency; consequently, the ability to provide real-time planning and response is becoming ever more important.

Incident Management

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) recommends that all business have an Incident Management System (IMS). An IMS, as outlined in NFPA 1600, has a combination of facilities, equipment, personnel, procedures and communications operating within a common organizational structure and is designed to aid in the management of resources during incidents.

As one part of a solid IMS, an Incident Command System (ICS) should be identified, similar to how an Emergency Response Team is identified in an EAP. The ICS puts a detailed plan in place to create more organized and streamlined efforts, which can ultimately minimize disruptions to operations, save lives , lessen damage and/or loss, and protect surrounding communities. In addition, it also allows the company to understand the total cost of risk.

Developing an Incident Management System

When developing an IMS, one should understand that the use of ICS depends upon the size and complexity of the business. Functions and roles may be assigned to multiple individuals or a few persons may be assigned multiple responsibilities. Figure 1 is a great example from FEMA of what the ICS might look like:

Emergency Response Procedures Flowchart
Figure 1—Incident Commander is the contact point with Safety, Liaison and Public Information for Operations, Planning, Logistics, Finance and Administration.

The Incident Commander should not only know what is happening/has happened, but he/she should understand what could happen next. They should be able to easily identify and answer questions such as:

  • What type of incident is it?
  • Who should be notified?  Why?
  • Which areas require evacuation or a shelter-in-place?  Why?

In addition, the incident commander should take into account worker/responder exposure monitoring during the emergency, as well as any potential offsite impact.

When creating an IMS, one should consider automated solutions for incident management. Emergency management software, coupled with strategically placed chemical and meteorological sensors, allows incident commanders to respond to emergencies faster, more accurately, and in real-time with data provided by live plume models, release-rate estimations, meteorological data, and so much more.

Practice, Practice, Practice

The importance of emergency preparedness—conducting regular drills and identifying corrective actions—cannot be stressed enough. If workers and contractors do not know what actions to take or where to go, then the plan does no one any good.

Remember, drills combat human behavior, and there are a number of factors that affect human behavior during an emergency, including a person’s assumed role, experience, education, and personality, as well as the emergency’s perceived threat and the actions of others sharing the experience. Drills give employees and contractors experience, allowing them to react accurately, faster and more effectively in case of an actual emergency.

To learn more about Total Safety and its unwavering commitment to ensure the safe wellbeing of workers worldwide, contact them at 888.44.TOTAL or at mail@totalsafety.com.

Industrial Safety Services & Equipment, Uncategorized

Blakeman & Associates Partners with Total Safety

Blakeman & Associates, a premier ISNetworld® consulting firm, has joined forces with global safety giant Total Safety to provide clients with the best services in the industry.  The combined experience and knowledge of these two firms will offer an unparalleled package of safety and contractor compliance to an international client base.

Montgomery, TX and Houston, TX (PRWEB) April 12, 2013

Blakeman & Associates and Total Safety are bringing together their consulting experience to offer customers a more complete package of services and products. Blakeman & Associates can now offer Total Safety’s online respirator medical evaluation questionnaire and Blakeman & Associates can now provide a managed ISNetworld® compliance solution for Total Safety’s clients.

“We are always looking for new opportunities that will further our clients’ safety services,” says Bob Williams, CEO of Blakeman & Associates. “Total Safety’s Rapid MEQ® testing, an OSHA approved online medical questionnaire for employees, fits a need our clients asked for and a new partnership was created.”

Stenning Schueppert, a Senior Vice President of Total Safety, is also looking forward to offering more services to their clients around the globe. “ISNetworld® compliance remains a challenge for some of our customers and we are proud to offer them a trusted resource to tackle that compliance hurdle. Blakeman & Associates has a stellar record of assisting customers with their online contractor compliance – a service many clients are looking to outsource,” stated Schueppert.

Blakeman & Associates will feature the RapidMEQ® testing on their redesigned website starting Monday, April 15th. The confidential questionnaire can be completed online, saving companies the time and cost of sending their employees to an offsite licensed healthcare provider.

Blakeman & Associates guides small and large companies through the startup process with systems like ISNetworld®, PEC Premier, PICS and BROWZ and offers an annual maintenance program for maintaining compliance with these systems.

“Together with Total Safety, we will be able to bring a level of service to our customers unparalleled in the industry,” said Williams. “We see the needs of our clients changing and we have developed new services and products for our current and future clients.”

About Blakeman & Associates: Blakeman & Associates is a Montgomery, Texas based company that offers a wide range of safety, environmental, DOT, recruiting and human resources consulting services to clients all over North America. They have provided total compliance and business solutions to thousands of companies over the last 25 years. For more information about Blakeman & Associates, contact them at 936-582-2900, visit their website http://www.blakemanandassociates.com or email them at info(at)blakemanandassociates(dot)com

About Total Safety: Total Safety, a Warburg Pincus portfolio company, is the world’s premier provider of integrated safety and compliance solutions and the products necessary to support them, including gas detection, respiratory protection, safety training, fire protection, compliance and inspection, industrial hygiene, onsite emergency medical treatment/paramedics, communications systems, engineered systems design, and materials management. Selected as one of “America’s Safest Companies,” it operates from 142 locations in 19 countries to ensure the safe Wellbeing of Workers Worldwide (W3).

**Neither Blakeman & Associates nor Total Safety are in any way endorsed, sponsored, approved by, or otherwise affiliated with ISNetworld®.