By Roberto Hugo Gonzalez,
As originally published by Texas Border Business newsprint edition September 2016.
Every year, the city of McAllen celebrates a Risk and Safety Expo to educate municipal employees and the public to avoid serious accidents.
During the 2015 Second Annual Risk and Safety Expo, the City of McAllen brought state agencies that deal with important aspects of safety. Cities of Hidalgo County and as far as Brownsville attended the expo to get up-to-date on the latest information related to avoiding accidents.
Yoli Perez, the director of Risk Management and Safety Department of the City of McAllen, spoke to Texas Border Business. She has been with the City of McAllen for the last five years and going on three with the safety department.
Tell me what a safety director does? “Well, we have an enormous responsibility of keeping and maintaining our employees safe. She said, “We are primarily here to identify exposures, prevent accidents, keep our people safe and not just our people but the citizens as well.”
Also, she said that their commitment is double, keeping safe the internal customers and external customers.
What is the process to do that? “We first identify the exposures and the hazards that we have to deal with on a regular basis to prevent accidents.”
According to Perez, the Expo is an event that helps them to stay in touch with everyone that has something to do with preventing accidents. The Expo is sponsored also by Texas Gas Services a division of ONE Gas; Texas 811; Badger Daylighting; NuStar and the City of McAllen.
“We have a lot of issues to discuss and sometimes.” She says, “It is not just about hitting underground lines, but also the electric, gas or sewer lines. Such accidents can leave a subdivision without water or electricity.”
The Expo teaches about the processes involved, by providing education to employees, and to neighboring municipalities who were also present.
Have you lost any lives because of hitting lines? “No, the City of McAllen has been very, very fortunate and had no losses of lives, no fatalities in this type of environment or exposure.”
Who exactly are you educating? “Most utility and construction workers, and employees of the City of McAllen that work in waterline maintenance, also Public Works, and any position that involves excavating and trenching.”
How does that information trickle down to the rest of the team? “In the department safety meetings and the ongoing education that our staff provides.” She said, “We have weekly training in departments citywide, and we also send the message of safety culture.”
Perez emphasized that when a line is hit it’s a huge expense. That is why the importance of constant education and meetings with agencies that deal with accident prevention is imperative.
“The organizations that always take part in the training and meetings are Texas Railroad Commission and Texas 811.”
She says that calling 811 is the smartest decision people can make before digging. TBB
