Igniting Next Gen: Safeguarding the Future - A Career in Safety and Risk

Intro (00:00):
You are listening to a special episode of In The Public Eye Podcast, Igniting NextGen for Careers and Risk Management, where we explore all the exciting career opportunities and possibilities within the insurance industry. Here is your host, Karen Caterino.

Karen Caterino (00:19):
Well, hello and welcome to Alliant's Igniting NextGen podcast. I'm your host Karen Caterino, and our guest today is Brandon Barnhardt, Safety and Risk Manager for the City of Charlotte, North Carolina. Welcome to the show, Brandon.

Brandon Barnhardt (00:30):
Hey, Karen. Nice to be with you.

Karen Caterino (00:32):
We're glad you're here. Let's begin by telling our audience how you got started on a career in safety management and how it led to your current role at the city today.

Brandon Barnhardt (00:40):
Well, that's an interesting question and a good question, and it all started when I was in college, University of North Carolina at Wilmington. I graduated with an environmental science degree, which led itself to be somewhere in the compliance and regulatory field. It just so happened that I didn't want to move to D.C, so I was looking for something closer to home in North Carolina. North Carolina OSHA had an opening for an apprenticeship program where new hires are trained, and you receive curriculum in the safety and health field. So, that's what got me started in this space. It was a good opportunity to spread my wings across multiple platforms of safety and health, the industrial hygiene field.

Karen Caterino (01:25):
How did you hear about the apprentice program?

Brandon Barnhardt (01:27):
I'll be honest with you, it's really hard to find opportunities by word of mouth. At that time, it was looking at job boards, looking at different government entities and regulatory agencies because my background, skills and education were in the regulatory compliance standpoint. I would look periodically at different boards and things like that. It happened that I stumbled across an opening in the Winston-Salem Field office, so I worked there for North Carolina OSHA for some years.

Karen Caterino (01:57):
Tell us what does the Safety and Risk Officer do exactly? What's a typical day look like for you?

Brandon Barnhardt (02:03):
For me, with the City of Charlotte and the risk management field, it can be all over the place, right? I think that's one of the reasons why I enjoy this job. It's very dynamic. It's not static, so to speak. I could find myself on some days doing safety and health training for all of our different departments and divisions, CMPD, that's our police department, and the Charlotte Fire Department, and other services, you name it. We have those industries within our sphere of influence, so a lot of times it's trying to network and provide risk mitigation across all of those different covered entities.

Karen Caterino (02:37):
What is safety and health? What are you doing with those entities, and how do you get involved with them on a day-to-day basis?

Brandon Barnhardt (02:43):
Safety and health is your traditional safety and health. If you have employees that are exposed to vehicular traffic outside work, and do they have reflective vests on? If they're exposed to falls, do they wear fall protection? If they're exposed to electrical doing preventative maintenance work, do we have lockout tagout programs? So to me, that traditional work, which we have all of those risks, I like to say sometimes that we accept all risks because we have all risks, and working to mitigate those across all of those entities is basically that day to day. I think it wasn't until my first two years into this job where it transitioned from traditional safety and health into enterprise risk loss control, safety and health, which is two totally different things. But that's where I see the industry going, which I know we'll touch on later on.

Karen Caterino (03:31):
So, as you've seen more and more of the proliferation of internet of things to dash cameras being used by police and law enforcement to maybe even AI being leveraged down the road, how perhaps is the city leveraging some of these analytics, some examples, and then when you're looking at loss mitigation, loss prevention, how are these devices maybe changing the way that you're currently doing your job?

Brandon Barnhardt (03:55):
I think for us, public entities always tend to be behind the curve than our sisters and brothers in the private sector field. I feel like we're always trying to catch the bus. In this space, we are utilizing some AVL technologies and different things like that that produce positive behavior-based decision-making processes from our employees when they're operating City of Charlotte vehicles or county vehicles, or any of the people we cover from a risk perspective. We try to leverage those, but for us, each one of these discussions is a grander discussion amongst leaders in the entire city. So we have to onboard it, we have to communicate it, it's like teaching, so to speak. We're trying to educate everyone on what the successes could be when you implement certain technologies in the field. That way you get buy-in, you get management commitment and those different things that make it a lot easier. For me, where I think it's going, it just so happened I was asked by two graduate students at Duke University to do a study on next gen safety training, and their thesis was around virtual reality. I'm thinking where it goes at some point in time when you get into complex systems, say our light rail industry or anything to do with electrical or cumbersome type of preventative maintenance work, you're going to see training morph into more of a hands-on experience with AI and virtual reality that allows end users to take training on the equipment they're actually looking to provide preventative maintenance on. I found that to be a very enlightening discussion and one that I think is going to lead to the future of what safety and health training actually is.

Karen Caterino (05:37):
Certainly I think with the younger generation enjoying video games to how electronics can make our lives more efficient and more fun, seems there's some opportunity there for them in this field. So tell us, what is it you like most about your job?

Brandon Barnhardt (05:50):
I mentioned this earlier, but the one thing that I like the most about what I do currently is that it's never the same. You may have conversations about the same standards. Or the same insert whatever you want here, but there's different circumstances about what standard you're trying to reach. Or different conversations or a different question that's been brought to you at a different spin on its interpretation. So that is the best thing that I like because it's very dynamic. One day I could be working on heat stress for maybe our SWAT team in Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department. The next day I could be helping Solid Waste Services on how they keep their people safe when they're having to get out of their trucks to do bulky item pick up or anything along those lines. I’m blessed to live in a beautiful city. I'm born and raised here. We are very fortunate to have a lot of good opportunities for extracurricular events, which draws our people into those events. Determining how we keep them safe, and not only our employees, but citizens and patrons and everyone who comes, is really an enlightening and very humbling experience.

Karen Caterino (06:54):
I appreciate that, Brandon. The city has had its share of challenges this past year for sure, and I think it's something important to highlight about your career in what NextGen really looks for in careers, and that is helping people, making a difference. Certainly as a safety officer, you do that every day.

Brandon Barnhardt (07:15):
Oh, well I appreciate that. Thank you.

Karen Caterino (07:17):
What are some challenges do you think that either you may have experienced starting out in the field, you alluded to them earlier, just trying to find how to get into this and you just stumble into it. Maybe educate students or young professionals that might be interested, if they're interested in a field like yours, how can they get started? What would you say are some challenges, but they can certainly overcome?

Brandon Barnhardt (07:38):
To answer this question, I go back to the beginning of our conversation. Of how did I get into this field? I've been very fortunate to start off in the regulatory compliance field where I was doing the investigations of fatalities, accidents, complaints, and different things that come to light when you operate a business in any state in the United States. My career path and trajectory allowed me to be very fortunate enough to be promoted and work as a Carolina Star Consultant, which in North Carolina is the equivalent of the VPP program on the federal level. I got to see companies that implemented very progressive safety and health management systems. Companies that, Fortune 500 companies, people that get it, that when you implement it right, it does a lot of things for you, the end user about retention of employees, recruitment and different things like that.

Which for me, I think to answer your question, some of the challenging environments is how do we as safety professionals get that conversation in front of decision makers who can ultimately decide which way a corporation, public entity is going to transition their loss control field? Because a lot of times I don't think we or anyone in this field communicates quite the way it should be, and if we do that more effectively, I think we'll have more success at implementing loss control measures. That leads directly to recruitment, retention and hiring of new safety professionals in the field. And just different ways of doing business. Because there's one thing I do know, if we're not changing, we're getting worse. It’s trying to figure out how do we change, but not do it so quickly. In this field we measure success by inches, not miles, so understanding that is a good tool.

Karen Caterino (09:24):
You mentioned being effective and effective communicators. Talk about some skills that you feel are important to have if you're going to work in a safety and risk field. What are some growth opportunities for not only just students, but even you? What do you see as far as that is concerned relative to what you do?

Brandon Barnhardt (09:43):
Wow, I think that's a really good question. I think for me, if someone that's been in this field for some time now, I don't think there's anything that can change your heart and mind than seeing humans not move, right? A fatality, experiencing a tragic workplace event. My time at the North Carolina Department of Labor OSHA, which is basically the CSI arm for workplace fatalities, it allows you to see the end result of when things happen. Being able to communicate with empathy, with a sense of you're not going to have all of the right answers and questions. You may not succeed a lot of times, but measuring that success in inches and not miles and always progressing one step at a time is a good process to think of when communicating. This whole thing about communication is very important. I think nowadays, if we could Snapchat or put something across really quickly, you think that that makes impact. To me, communicating in person versus through quick series of conversations, I don't think it's as impactful. We as communicators have to figure out how do we reach our audience to get them to want to do something. You got to find out what your want is and go out and try to do that intently.

So some things that I think you can find that can help you in this endeavor is trying to immerse yourself in thinking of what it could be like to work in conditions that maybe aren't what you think they should be for 2024 moving into 2025. Put yourself into certain situations that give you that empathy and allow you to communicate at a different level. I think for any of us that have managed people before, it's good to say that you don't manage two to five people the same way. We all have different ways we receive information and communicate it. Trying to figure out how you do that and tailor your conversations about where you're at at that moment, instead of looking at it from a 365 or a ceiling perspective and get in there, get into the game, and bring it home to who your audience is, whether that's a CEO, a director, a line supervisor. You want to figure out their why, and then when you communicate it, it leads to better results.

Karen Caterino (12:01):
You had mentioned earlier ERM or enterprise risk management, perhaps talk about that in terms of really the growth and evolution, if you will, of ERM and safety and health organizationally wide, and perhaps share some of the things the city's looking to do in that respect, as an example.

Brandon Barnhardt (12:20):
I think you're right. Earlier on I did mention the growth of a safety and health professional. When you first start out, you're looking at things traditionally. Is there a standard for you to wear fall protection when exposed to certain heights? Yes. When you do electrical work, are you supposed to follow lockout tagout or electrical safety work practices? Yes. But when you mature in your career field, and you get to a space like enterprise risk management, where it's asking you to be proactive versus reactive, I think that's the key component to what we're trying to do. So for us, we're trying to turn the city, the 15th largest city in the United States, into a battleship. You don't turn on a dime. It's an ease or a curve. I like to say you're on a bend trajectory.

So what I think we're trying to do here is have good conversations around getting away from reactive health safety and loss control measures and getting to proactive health and safety measures, which the ERM program does that. You identify your risk, you control them with certain risk categories and risk registries and make people responsible for those things proactively. That's what we're trying to do. So much so here in the city, we have a couple of divisions, aviation, which is our most progressive division at Charlotte Douglas International Air, for those that may not know, they're very progressive, and they have the beginnings of a very good ERM program. Not only that, aviation, our division is one of the only airports in the entire United States that are in the Carolina Star program, which is that VPP equivalent for the highest recognition you can get from an OSHA perspective. So they get it, they understand it, and that's going to lead to great outcomes for everyone that's involved, employees, management, CEOs, and actually the stakeholders, which is our citizens that live in and around the city of Charlotte and the state of North Carolina.

Karen Caterino (14:11):
I like the acronym. Everyone's a risk manager with ERM, right? Everybody is. So, certainly safety and health is a key aspect to ensuring people get home safe at night.

Brandon Barnhardt (14:22):
Absolutely.

Karen Caterino (14:23):
What's your best advice for students that are considering a career working in health and safety?

Brandon Barnhardt (14:28):
That's a good question. I think one, finding a university or a mechanism to get training, information, resources is really key for anyone who's considering to get into this field. I like to say that at the beginning you think that you're going to make all of this money starting out. What I didn't know when I was younger is that it wasn't the money I was seeking, it was the knowledge. So if you seek that knowledge at the very beginning that gives you that foundational level to execute through your career. The other things follow, right? The happiness, the money, the different things like that. I think anyone that's starting out in this field, is try to immerse yourself in the foundational levels of what career you're getting into, whether that's health and safety, insurance, loss control, whatever that may be. What area of the country you're in, look for opportunities to get involved with safety and health conferences. For me, I've been involved in multiple safety and health conferences.

I'm currently the president of the Charlotte Regional Safety and Health Conference now, which is a partnership between the North Carolina Department of Labor OSHA, North Carolina Safety Council and Private and Public Industries. Get involved in those types of things. See how you can plug in, how can you help, how can you put on or receive educational material in the health and safety field or loss control field, and always go to those sites that are well known in this space. NIOSH, the OSHA field offices, the North Carolina Department of Labor OSHA field offices, there is always good training and curriculum that's available there, and it's free. It doesn't cost you much to gain that knowledge. Start building your building blocks, look for opportunities, and when you get a chance to plug in. Because I think that helps to ensure that all of our employees or wherever you're working, goes home the same way they came in, and that's every safety professional's goal.

Karen Caterino (16:15):
Brandon, we talked about some entry level opportunities for students that are considering the field of health and safety. Are there internship opportunities that you can mention or tag them into even in your area or where they can look for wherever they may live?

Brandon Barnhardt (16:30):
Yes, that's a great question. I think we were discussing earlier some of your regional conferences and things like that. What we're doing internally, so the City of Charlotte has a very robust internship program that you can try to plug into. But also as the president of the Charlotte Regional Safety and Health Conference, what we're doing this year in conjunction with the American Society of Safety Professionals, ASSP, is we're sponsoring four students to give them the opportunity to attend our conference and hear state of the art, very proactive safety and health discussions, so they can take them back and add them to their safety and health toolbox. That's one way you could do it. Another thing we're doing is that for the first time, we are offering student discounts for anyone that's enrolled in an occupational safety and health field in order to attend our conferences.

You’re always going to plug your conference, right? It's just as good as everyone else's. But we have very dynamic speakers. We have Kina Hart that's going to speak this year. If you don't know who she is, go look up Kina Hart on YouTube and hear her story. She was involved in an industrial accident. Now she's a leader in public speaking. We have Don Wilson that's coming to speak at our conference. And then we have the Department of Labor OSHA, who's going to do very significant case discussions on lockout tagout and different things. That's a way for students to get plugged in. They can hear very dynamic thought processes in this field of safety and health.

Karen Caterino (17:49):
It sounds like throughout the United States, there's likely regional or state conferences that students can look to, to support their interest in the field.

Brandon Barnhardt (17:59):
Absolutely.

Karen Caterino (17:59):
Well, Brandon, it's been a pleasure talking with you. Thank you so much for taking the time to be on our show and share your experience today.

Brandon Barnhardt (18:06):
I appreciate it, Karen. Thank you so much for having me.