Lead Them Home Safely at Frontier Communications

John Olin, Frontier Communications Solutions

Frontier Communications Solutions, the brand name for Citizens Communications Company, is one of the nation's largest independent telecommunications providers. Citizens Communications Company, which was founded in 1935 as Citizens Utilities Company, is a Stamford, Connecticut-based operation that offers local, long distance, and Internet access services, as well as bundled satellite television through EchoStar's Dish Network, in 24 states.

Written by Seth Skydel

Frontier Communications Solutions, the brand name for Citizens Communications Company, is one of the nation's largest independent telecommunications providers. Citizens Communications Company, which was founded in 1935 as Citizens Utilities Company, is a Stamford, Connecticut-based operation that offers local, long distance, and Internet access services, as well as bundled satellite television through EchoStar's Dish Network, in 24 states.

John Olin began his career as a safety professional in the telecommunications industry in 1979 with Continental Telephone Company (CONTEL). For the next 14 years, he served in various and expanding safety roles at CONTEL, GTE and Vista Telephone. For the past 14 years, after the Vista name was changed to Frontier Communications and through the subsequent sales of Frontier to Global Crossing and then to Citizens, he has continued to work for the organization as a utility safety professional.

Today, Olin is the Regional Environmental, Health & Safety Manager for Frontier Communications Solutions in the Central Region. His responsibilities include providing direction, guidance and support to promote improvements in the area of safety, health and environmental issues for 1,085 employees at local telephone companies in Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska, Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin, Michigan and Ohio.

Olin also brings to his role at Frontier his skills as a CSP (Certified Safety Professional) and a CUSA (Certified Utilities Safety Administrator). He is also certified to teach courses in First Aid, CPR, AED, Fork Lift, Defensive Driving, the OSHA 10 and 30 Hour General Industry Outreach Program, Bucket Truck, Digger Derricks, and Flagger training.

In addition, Olin is an active member of ASSE (American Society of Safety Engineers) Northwest Chapter, where he has held many volunteer offices including serving as Chapter President from 1999-2000; and the National Safety Council's Utilities Division, where he has been chairman of the Communications Section and is currently chairman of the CUSA Board. He has also been a member of the Safety Advisory Board for the Minnesota Telecom Alliance since 1980 and is active with the Minnesota Safety Council and the Iowa-Illinois Safety Council. In 2001 Olin was named Safety Professional of the Year by the Northwest Chapter of ASSE and in 2003 he received the Distinguished Service to Safety Award from the National Safety Council.
Recently, Olin discussed the safety programs and practices at Frontier with Incident Prevention.

How is the safety organization at Frontier structured?
Frontier Communications is divided into four regions and each region has a safety specialist who reports to our Corporate Director of Environmental, Health & Safety, Lynne Monaco. In addition, we have one administrator, Peggy Tollner, who helps with everything and is a great resource. I oversee the Central Region's eight states, traveling and training in every state. This has been strongly encouraged by Central Region Senior Vice President John Lass.

What safety and training programs do you develop and implement for Frontier?
In recent years our safety staff has been developing E-learning training on telephone-related safety issues that are not available from vendors. The courses can be completed on the company Internet. Each takes about one hour and they have all been very popular with Frontier employees. Some of the courses include Bucket Truck; Central Office Safety; Electrical Safety; Extension Ladder Safety; Hazardous Communications; Office Ergonomics; Personal Protective Equipment; Slips, Trips, & Falls; Work Area Protection; and Work Place Violence.

What do you consider one of the most beneficial safety programs at Frontier?
Ten years ago, I discovered a void when we hire new technicians. For the most part, we expect them to be trained by a previous company or technical college, but I was concerned that we needed to make certain they have learned critical safety lessons in an effort to prevent injuries or worse. Today, with the help of our Safety Committee, we bring all new hires in for two very full days of Safety Awareness Training. The best part of this program is that our subject matter experts are current technicians and supervisors. They do a great job keeping everyone's attention and relating well with our new hires because they are doing the same job. Every Safety Committee member considers it an honor to be part of this training effort.

How closely do you work with insurance carriers when dealing with safety related claims? Why is this important?
All work-related injuries are reported to me and investigated with the help of the employee's immediate supervisor. CNA is our insurance carrier and they do a great job helping investigate reported injury claims. Working with your workers' compensation carrier is key to improving your overall safety record. Frontier then focuses on learning from mistakes made and communicating these messages to all employees in a positive manner.

Are you involved in the purchasing decisions for vehicles, tools and personal protective equipment for work crews? Why is it important to get involved?
At Frontier I sit on a Procurement Committee that helps oversee products purchased to ensure safety is always addressed. Safety is always involved in those decisions, although unfortunately it's sometimes after the fact, when we face safety problems with a purchase. Frontier employees are always quick to do the right thing to remedy a problem.

What process do you follow to develop safety practices and programs?
Today, safety professionals share best practices in an effort to prevent injury or death. Networking is the key and there are great benefits to volunteering your time to organizations like ASSE, the Utilities Division of the NSC, telephone associations, and local and state Safety Councils. One group that puts out great material is the National Telecommunications Safety Panel. Each September, NTSP holds a three-day Safety Seminar that's put on by safety professionals. I have found these groups and their members are always willing to help make determining hazards, developing safety practices and programs much easier.

What regulations impact safety and compliance at Frontier? What changes do you see coming that will have an impact on your operation and the industry as a whole?
OSHA, DOT and EPA keep us very busy with record keeping, compliance and mandated training. When OSHA gets around to rewriting the 1910.268 Telecommunications Standards that were originally developed in the early 1970s, it could keep us busy for years.

How do you measure safety performance?
After 28 years in this business you know by looking at your recorded injuries how you're doing. At the same time we do benchmark progress, but internally we don't focus on just the numbers. Our approach is geared toward people and finding ways to be sure everyone gets home safely each night.

How would you sum up your philosophy and approach toward utility safety?
As a manager, I consider myself to be a safety resource person for all employees, but the key to delivering a safety program are our first level supervisors. Unfortunately, safety professionals can't show a list of injuries their efforts have prevented; we only have lists of injuries that did happen. With an internal team effort at Frontier we are making a difference, but it takes every employee to help eliminate preventable injuries and vehicle crashes. In the end, no job we do or service we perform is so urgent that we cannot take time and use necessary equipment to do it safely. iP.

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