Turning Obstacles Into Opportunities

Steve Statema |  So Safe Equipment

Dr. Kevin Rindal | Vimocity

Steve Statema is an experienced utility worker from Minnesota. One of his routine tasks was opening cast iron manhole covers by hand. Each lid weighs 200 pounds or more. In some weeks, he opened 100 of them. He did it by the book every time, industry standard tools, industry standard technique. But in 2023, his back and his shoulders gave out anyway, so he decided to build a better tool.

He's the co-founder of So Safe Equipment, and his lifter opens the same manhole cover with a thumb instead of a back. This is the WorkReady podcast.

I'm excited to dive into your background and your history and the things that led you to where you are today. But let's start with the early days, Steve. You grew up in Central Minnesota on a farm, and so can you tell us a little bit more about those early days?

As long as I can remember, I was around equipment on the farm and animals, and it was a family thing, so the whole family was part of it.

But one of my earliest experiences in life that actually stuck with me was a call that we got from my cousin. And, and so that day we were out, I was probably about five years old, and, uh, we were out baling hay. I was riding the rack, 'cause that's what the young guys do and dragging the bales to the back.

My mom came out to the field and said there was an accident. I'm like, "Oh, that's not good." So to make a long story short, my, my cousin's husband had gotten his leg caught in a power takeoff shaft And, um, you know, so he lost the bottom half of his leg from his knee down. And that was my, my first experience that I remember that kinda set my mindset of things are dangerous in this world, and stuff happens, and what am I...

what are we gonna do about it? So just being aware of that. So it was really from that point on, you know, it was like I was super scared of power takeoff shafts, rightfully so. But- You know? Yeah, yeah. I went to visit my cousin in the hospital, and it wasn't a pretty scene. So from that point I was vigilant around the farm.

It's like, is everything... are we doing everything as safe as we can? And not even knowing the, the terminology behind that. It was just a thought. It was in- ingrained in me. Again, it was just, uh, my dad, my brother, and I. We did the majority of the work on the farm, and so I grew up in a really tight-knit family in that way.

And tell me a little bit more about your dad. You, y- started a excavating business with he and then your brother, so I'd love to hear a little bit more about that. Yeah. Around 2005, 2006, my father felt like he was gonna transition. He was a machinist full time, and he felt like he wanted to transition to being more on the farm, more available for the farm.

And, and so he sh- he asked me one day, I was, I was, uh, 18, and, and he said, "Hey, Steve, what do you think about starting an excavation company?" And I'm like, "Well, uh, what is... what exactly does that mean, Dad?" So, uh, two days later he showed up with a excavator on the farm, and he said, "Well, this is what we're doing now."

So, um, so it was at that point we started an excavation company. My brother, he came on, uh, right away. And so started an excavation company. We, again, we're in Central Minnesota, so we were digging basements, uh, digging water lines, putting in septic systems and, and all that stuff. Yeah, I mean, we were busy from day one.

Everything we knew, we knew from the farm, you know? So there wasn't any formal education, no formal training or anything like that. It was just like, you know, we start with bury a rock pile. Uh, okay, the neighbor's, you know, uh, well is, is leaking so, you know, you go dig up the well and you fix that. And so it just, it, it just, uh, you know, just kept growing and growing and growing, and, uh, it was a amazing time.

It was, it was a great time in life. It sounded like an incredible business. In 2009, though, um, you had a loss of your dad. Can you share a little bit more about that? Sure. So mid-April of 2009, a typical day. It was a Friday, Friday, and, and I actually had that day off, so one of my other jobs was teaching motorcycle safety classes.

And so I was on my way to a class, and I got a, I got a call from my mom, and said, "I need you to meet me at the Long Prairie Hospital. Dad was in an accident, and it's not looking good." So I turned my truck around and I went to the hospital, and it was about 10 hours later, uh, they called the time of death.

So what had happened... Keep in mind, we've I don't know how many water lines we've dug in in our, in our careers, hundreds of miles of trench we've dug, but this, this one was unique. So it was, uh, Minnesota, we get a lot of frost, and so we were... He was, uh, repairing a, uh, a hydrant that was leaking, and it was on the shady side of a building.

So as he was digging from the well to the hydrant, there wasn't any frost. All the frost was out, but on this side of the building, there was still 18 inches of frost. And so the trench was only six feet deep, so it wasn't, it wasn't really deep. The slopes were what they needed to be. Um, there was three to one slopes 'cause it was Class C soil.

However, because a hydrant was leaking, all the soil beneath the frost was not supporting the s- the frost itself. He was, he was down, uh, fixing, replacing the hydrant, so he was on his knees. And his, uh, assistant there that day just told Jim, my dad, "Jim, stand up." And so he actually was able to turn around in the trench, but he was still on his knees when a piece of frost came down.

And the frost was six feet by eight feet by 18 inches deep. And again, it w- in, it was only six feet deep trench, so it wasn't, it wasn't really deep. But it pinned him against the wall and, and so my brother was offsite, but he was a couple miles down the road, so my brother ended up going over there and removing the frost from him as, as the ambulances showed up, and they were able to get him extracted from, from the trench at that point.

And they ran him to the hospital and said 10 hours later they called the time of death. So the site didn't look, the, the site didn't look any different than The hundreds of other ones we, we had done. However, because the subsoil wasn't holding up the frost, that was, that was a unique thing that nobody saw coming, so.

Well, in our conversation, uh, leading up to this, you shared that that was definitely one of the harder things that you'd experienced in your life. And how did that shape you as a person? Uh, in so many ways. So as, as a person, I am, I am deeply grounded in my faith, deeply grounded. And I'll just be honest with you, God and I had some hard conversation, and I was mad.

I was, I was walking through life for a number of years with some PTSD from that, from that experience. My dad and I, we, we ate lunch together on the trailer four out of the five days, working days of the week. So w- we were, we were best of friends. We did a lot of things together. We grew up... We did everything together.

We grew up on a farm, so everything was together. So it was... What, what I found was that because maybe I had a, I had a lot of experience, but not enough educational tools in my belt, I'll say, which kudos to you for bringing that stuff. I wish I knew some of the stuff that you're putting out there, and others like you.

It may have prevented it. It may not have. Like I said, experience, there's a lot to experience. It's time in the saddle. But we had a lot of time in the saddle, and this was, this was different. So, um, you know, so again, I was, you know, walking around wounded, but I became even more hypervigilant of safety. So every, every trench after that, I was always on guard.

We always had somebody on top of the hole looking, you know, is anything moving? Is anything happening? And it wasn't just for water lines. It was for everything. We, we had people in there who were spotting backing up trucks. It just, it changed, it changed the whole way we did business because in a moment, as, as many of your listeners have experienced, everything can change.

And, uh, and this one was, was pretty major. As I've, I've been in the industry 18... I started when I was 18. I'm 53. A few years. But there aren't very many people that I've talked to that have actually lost someone on the work site, uh, like, like I have. So again, it's just, it, it really made me aware of what I knew, and it made me really search out the things I didn't know.

And so it just, it honestly just retooled me. It's like, man, there are better ways to do things, all things. I'm convinced of that. Keep your head on a swivel at all times. Minimize as many of the things that can cause an injury as you possibly can. Every job site has multiple places where you could get injured.

It doesn't matter what it is. And so, uh, so it's just, okay, so how can we, how can we position our trucks different? How can we set our tools up better so we're not reaching odd or awkwardly? It was just, it was everything. Um, you know, it just kinda got retooled for me. And one thing I want you guys to take away is it was a major obstacle in my life, but I turned it into an opportunity.

Um, of like pump the brakes on what we're doing, pump the brakes on life. Is what we're doing the best we can do? And on life, like, is this the way I wanna live life? I want to go home to my family and give my kids hugs and my wife a kiss. That's what I want. And so now I, now I just position everything I do.

I, I try to arrange it so I can do that. I appreciate you sharing that s- uh, story, Steve. And just this week I actually had a conversation with, um, a leader and someone on one of their crews, experienced lineman, um, didn't cover up the lines properly and, uh, ended up, uh, unfortunately passing away from an arc flash.

And this stuff happens, and it's hard on the crews. I mean, if, if you've got a, a pole buddy that you work with every single day, you have, you know, lunch with your, your father every single day, he's your best friend, it, it's, it's hard. And you mentioned the PTSD aspect and what would you say to someone who maybe has experienced that situation and they continue to live with the questions of why or, you know, just the heartache of, of losing someone that's close to them?

Honestly, it's like just be real with yourself. Again, for me, I am deeply grounded in faith, and I was just, like I said, I was angry. I was an angry person for a while, and I let God know, "I'm mad. My father was taken too soon," and I don't ever want to s- to, to see that happen again to anybody that I know or anybody I communicate with.

So just be real. Not everything in this world is easy, but you weren't meant to do it alone. You were not. And so again, I, I, I just, I was real with God, I was real with myself, I was real with my family, I was real with my friends. And, and I say that as like some days are easy, some days are still hard. And when the hard days come, being a Scandinavian in Minnesota, we don't always share our feelings or our, our thoughts, and that was tearing me up emotionally.

Uh, and then, it, eventually it took a physical toll, and I, and I just found out because I wasn't sleeping well, I wasn't resting well, I wasn't recuperating. And so I just, I just chose. I made a choice to be real with myself and be real with people that I trusted and that were close. And, and one of the first people I was real with was my brother, who was there to run the excavator to help get my dad out of the, out of the trench.

And there was a lot of times where we just sat quiet, and there were a lot of times we, we just cried together. There were a lot of times we just sat there and we laughed about things that, you know, the three of us had done, some knucklehead things, you know? Um, in a good way. But it was just... I, I just wanna encourage everybody, it's like don't push it down, because it will manifest in another way, some other way, and you're t- you're too valuable for that.

There's only one you in this whole world, and the world needs you. Dr. Kevin here, and if you're finding value in this conversation and you aren't already subscribed to the WorkReady Podcast, I'd be grateful if you'd take a minute to hit the subscribe button on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen.

We drop new conversations every Tuesday, so this just ensures that you're never gonna miss the latest episode. Okay, let's get back into it Well said, Steve. And yeah, when you just keep compressing it and, and it doesn't come out, it's gonna get bottled up and come out at some point. And so, yeah, appreciate you sharing that.

So in 2012, you transitioned out of, uh, the family business and joined the municipality. Can you walk us through that change? Sure. So after, uh, you know, a long season with the, with the family and excavating, I had to give myself permission for a change. I found for a number of years of my life that owning a business or being the guy that makes the decisions or whatever was part of my identity.

And I, and I realized it's like, that's not my identity. I'm my identity. That's just what I do. It's my job. I, I bring, I bring something valuable to this world in that, don't get me wrong. A- and so when that transition happened, I just remember feeling like I was gonna let my family down or whatever, or my crew, the guys we, we, that we worked with.

And we had a number of employees that had been there for, for almost a decade. They'd been... They were there a long time. And again, I just... It's like, I need to take care of myself, and I know that if I continue doing what I'm doing, I'm not taking care of myself. So I just had the discussion with my family.

It's like, you know, I, I just need to step away. This is, this is too much right now for me and my life. This opportunity's opened up somewhere else that I wasn't looking for. And so, so I did. I, I stepped in the municipal side. Again, I, I grew up running heavy equipment my whole life on a farm, and so, so I, I started with Staples and Public Works.

I'm still, actually still there. So for- it'll be 14 ye- 14 years this month. Actually, 14 years today. Look at there. So, so, so yeah, I transitioned to that, and it was one of the best things I could do. My, um, it helped me on so many levels, just emotionally, just being able to step away and take a breath, not having all the weight on my shoulders.

And honestly, just a change of scenery helped, too. A lot of things I'm talking about were, were more, more, more emotional, psychological things that, that I needed, uh- And, and so I just, I stepped into that, and honestly, now I'm, I'm the healthiest I've, I've been in my whole life because of that transition.

But with that transition, there are other opportunities to, to serve a, uh, serve a community, serve a local community and be, be a part of that. And, uh, and so I went from serving three counties and excavating or, or more to, uh, serving 3,000 people that appreciate it when I plow snow, and they appreciate it when we fix potholes.

I was like, "Hey, this is great." So yeah, it was a good transition, so. That's great. I wanna double down on one thing you said, and it relates to vocation. And, you know, so often we, we get our identity from our vocation rather than bringing our identity to our vocation. And then it becomes, like you said, really difficult to make that switch because especially w- with all the, the web of being in a family business to s- separate yourself from that and do something else, it ju- it just requires, you know, a lot of courage, and it requires, you know, so many things to, to make that step of, of faith, so to speak.

If somebody listening to this interview is in that similar spot where they're like, "Man, I feel like I just need a change in my life," 'cause it sounded like it was really positive for you to, to have that change, what would... what's one step that they could do that would help them be able to, to make that next step?

I would say if you're feeling anxiety about it, just slow down. Slow down. Consider pump the brakes of your thoughts and emotions and just take a breath. I remember that was one of the best th- some of the best times I had is like, "I just need to breathe." And it was... A- again, I, I, I just say your job is what you do, it's not who you are.

It is not your identity. And, and so if you hear one thing from a person who is, who's made a could have been a difficult transition, I just inc- encourage you to do what you need to do to stay on top of your own game because not everybody else is looking out for you. Not everybody else knows what you're going through.

Matter of fact, you're the only one who actually knows everything you're going through. And I just, again, just encourage you, if you're transitioning in your field, it's okay. It's, it's really okay. I'm giving what... For whatever it's worth, you have permission to change lanes. So Steve, you join the municipality, you're plowing snow, you're doing maintenance, and you're also lifting manhole covers.

Tell us a little bit about what is involved with lifting manhole covers, and how often you're doing that. Sure. So yeah, part of my, part of my position with the city is, uh, making sure the collection system works fine. Water gets into the house, water goes out of the house, and, uh, nobody wants a backup. So I'm guessing our community's just like every other community out there.

We have some trouble spots, so on a weekly basis I'm popping manhole lids. The lightest one we have in, in town is 150 pounds. The heaviest one is 220. So on a weekly basis, a minimum of 10, and then, uh, twice a year we actually flush the entire town. So we just run, run water on the dead ends and get it all flowing.

When we do that, we have 280 lids, actually times two, 'cause there's two of us doing it. So I myself would do 280 lids every spring and every fall. That's alongside the problematic ones or reconstructions that need, that happen, 'cause when we repave we put risers on, so we move lids, and we're moving castings and all that stuff.

So to, to quantify the numbers, it's hundreds and hundreds a, a year easily. Actually, half a year. So it's, it's almost 600 just, just doing our, our routine maintenance yearly, so... Yes, let's quantify that. So if you were to think about during one of those busy times, how many lids are you popping times, let's just use 200 pounds.

How much are you actually lifting sometimes in a given day? We used to average about 20 to 25 a day, and so again, that's, that's just me. The guy on the other end, he's doing the same amount. So, so that's a lot of, a lot of pounds a day. Thousands. Thousands, yeah, yeah. And, and so explain what the typical process is for lifting those lids.

Typical process is first thing you n- need to do is most lids are stuck down from sand or debris or ice, depending, and so the first thing you n- need to do is swing a maul, bust them loose. Then the next tool you grab is whatever tool is on top of the pile in the back of your truck. So that's usually, in the past it was a, a J hook is what they call it, or, or we would use a bar, or we would use another, another tool.

It was a long T handle, the cantilever, cantilever type thing that would fit in some of the holes, and some of the holes it wouldn't. So that was... Those were typically the tools. But the J hook was the easiest, because it was, it was on top, and that, that J hook you worked in almost every manhole lid Almost every manhole lid, so How much innovation has there been in the last 100 years with how you pop a manhole cover?

Sorry. How many innovations have there been in hammers in the last 100 years? Basic design is the same. It hasn't, it hasn't changed. There's been... There wa- I would say we've made some progress once the magnets started coming out, but the magnets, in the past they've been on a, on like a T handle, a cantilever type thing.

So you attach a magnet to the lid, and then you, you, you pull the lid out of, out of the, out of the hole. So, so yeah, there's been very, very, very little. Again, I, I just compare it to a hammer, so So Steve, I'm gonna stop the interview right here and share, we, we have a lot of similarities. So Scandinavian, grew up on a farm, spent my entire, like, teenage years bucking bales out in the hay fields.

Yeah. And then my first, uh, first job when I was in college was working for the city of Melbourne, Washington, and it was for the sewer department, and my job was to pull all the manhole covers. Every single year we'd flush the system, we'd have the Vactor truck out there and- Yep ... then we'd make sure they're clear.

And so over those summers, uh, in between college, I, I lift- lifted thousands of lids it, it felt like. Yeah. And, uh, yeah, so I, I can definitely relate to that. It's, it's pretty, pretty physical, and it can be demanding on the body, and it's one of those things that it usually isn't just one repetition that, that ends up creating strain.

It's the, the thousands of repetitions and over time that end up causing the problems, and eventually it caught up with you. So can you share with us, uh, your injury in 2023 and what happened and what that was like to go through? Sure, sure. So just again, out there doing our job. So it was, uh, fall of 2023 and, uh, we were, we were out...

I was already... We were already half a day into, uh, flushing the sewer mains, so my body was somewhat warmed up. It was... it's fall, so it's pretty, pretty cool outside. And I put the standard approved tool that was on top of the pile in the back of the, the back of our pickup. I use that to pull a lid out, and it was, uh, it was one of the 220-pound lids.

It's on a state highway, so it's a heavy lid. And, and I'd already broken the, the lid loose. And so I do what I always do, got the hook in, did the best I could to lift it up, and then I leaned back. And the moment I leaned back to give that one a pull, and again, this was 1:00 or 2:00 in the afternoon, I immediately felt my back, my lower back and my shoulder both at the same time.

I think my back went first, and so I tried to compensate with my shoulder. And yeah, they both went out at the same time. I kicked the lid back in the hole, got on the phone and called my coworker, said, "Yeah, we're done for the day. I need to take a breath. I felt a strain." And that strain was, it was something.

So I, I'll back up the train a little bit. In years, in years past when we would be flushing the system, I'd go home tired, I'd go home sore. It was a long day of work, popping 20, 25 lids or, or more. But this one was different. I felt something go. Finished out, finished out most of that day. I went home a little bit early, and I, and I just remember sharing with my wife, it's like, "Yeah, something, something happened today.

I don't know what." So I just said, I... "Give me some ice." And I just laid on the floor and for hours just trying to move. I had my knees up, and I was on my back and swinging my knees back and forth, just trying to get, keep it loose, doing everything I could and, and, uh- Come 9:00 at night, I couldn't get off the floor.

I was, I was stuck. I'm like, "Well, this isn't good." Never had one quite like this. So the next day, um, I went into The hospital had it checked out, and that was the moment I was started light duty for six months and physical therapy for a total of, of 10. It was brutal. It was bad. How did that injury impact you as a person just on a day-to-day experience?

I don't... Nothing compares to what happened when I lost my dad. This was, this was a pretty close second. I, honestly, it was... I felt like I was letting the city down. I felt like I was letting my crew down. I felt like I was letting my family down because I'm expected to do a job. Now I'm on light duty, but I'm a guy, and guys don't go on light duty.

You suck it up, tough it up, and get through it. The emotional strain was, was, I would say, as significant as the physical. Just, again, not being able to fulfill the things that I signed up for. I signed up to be the guy that does collections. I signed up to be the coworker that was always there, willing to do anything to help.

I was signed up to be a husband that would go on a date with my wife and pay full attention to her and not my body. I was the, the dad who would hold their kids when he got home. I was the dad that would go kayaking with my kids every chance I got. I was the dad who would take my wife and my kids on a motorcycle ride, that I didn't even put tabs on the year of 2024 because I couldn't get on the motorcycle.

So, you know, I was an emotional wreck, to be honest with you. And that's when I just remembered, I just gotta be real with myself first, give myself permission to heal, give myself permission to slow down, explain all that to everybody, my employer, my family, my friends, and give myself the green light to slow down and to just heal.

So again, that was, that was major. But on the physical side, uh, well, I guess mental too, it's like every manhole I went past after that, I questioned, "Is this gonna be the one that's gonna make it worse?" And so, so again, it was, it was this... A- again, I went back into that hypervigilant mode of I always move my body in the, in the correct way.

I always... Every chance I get, it's like, you always lift right. And, and honestly, that's what I'm doing now. I'm just paying closer attention to my body, what my body's telling me. And what stands out to me, Steve, is that you had the experience. You'd done it thousands of times. You were using the proper piece of equipment.

You were following the procedure the way that it, it was supposed to be done, and yet you still got injured. How did that realization make you think that there was maybe a better way to do that? Well, I realized that just because tools are approved doesn't mean they're the best tool, and I equate it to this.

For thousands of years, we cut trees down with an ax, and then the chainsaw came around. And now you see people using axes just for fun. They don't use them- You know, to cut down, cut down trees. They fire up the Stihl or Husqvarna and they go to work. And, and so I was looking at these tools that just reminded me of the hammers that have never changed, you know, until the magnet came out.

It's like, that's cool. We still got some variables out there though that need to be addressed. And I just kinda took a step back and it's like, you know, growing up on a farm you become pretty ingenuitive. It's like how do we do things easier because I'm tired of rocking these bales. And so it's like, man, there's gotta be a better way There has to be a better way.

And so, so again, but I slowed down enough to stop to think about it. What are the tools out there? And so I started looking at what are other tools out there. Like, do we have the best tool? It just came to a point where it's like, I think we can do better. And I, I mean, again, it's the American way. It's like there are so many, so many innovations that have come out in the past 20, 30, 40 years on the, on every part of the industry.

It doesn't matter, you know, if you're working with power, if you're working on the municipal side. When they started putting GPS on graders, that totally revolutionized how they're putting pads down and how they're laying roads. It's just, it's more efficient, it's more effective. Less, less labor hours. You got less guys shoveling dirt, and so you have less workman comp claims because of better tools.

So you identified that there was a better way to do it. How did you take the first step to actually changing that and coming up with a new idea? You know, again, I just slowed down. It's like I took a overarching view of everything that was out there, and I knew magnets worked on cast iron lids. I didn't like how they, you know, how some of them were attached because some of the technology out there, I still see people using their back and their shoulders to remove lids.

And then I saw other, other options out there, and it's like, well, that kind of works, but that tool itself is 80 pounds, so that's pretty heavy. Saw another tool similar out there, and it, it's like, well, that is hydraulic driven, so that's just on one vehicle. So I'm like, well, a magnet works. If we can put it on something light, and how do we power it?

And that's when the aha moment came. It's like, man, the battery industry, power tool battery industry has come a long way in the last 10, 15 years. Hmm, I wonder, can we power something with the power tool battery? 'Cause everybody's got red or yellow batteries. Sure enough, nobody was doing it. So, so thus came our company that my cohort, my, my business partner and I put together, the So Safe Equipment Power Lifter.

So we, we built a, a tool that goes into a two-inch receiver, which almost every vehicle on the municipal side has, powered off a Milwaukee or DeWalt power tool battery that has a magnet on it that lifts up manhole lids, and you swing them out of the way. So I literally lift manhole lids now with my thumb, literally, on a remote control.

What did the first prototype look like, and what were you trying to accomplish with that, and then how- Has the progress or the product progressed since then to what it is today? Sure. So the first one was pretty archaic. We found some scrap metal laying around in the shop. Uh, we put it together. We knew we wanted it in a two-inch receiver.

We ran it off of a, uh, off a automotive battery. Uh, we still use a magnet. And to make a long story sh- short, we got it working. The first day we took it out in the field, our public works director took a video of that first lifter we ever built. And in, uh, two months it had over two million views on Facebook, and that's when we realized, hmm, we're not the only ones thinking about this.

And, and so with that, that first tool was heavy. It was awkward. We had an automotive battery, and it's like, okay, so we know there's interest. So over the next, I would say, six or eight months, uh, pretty much every day after work, my business partner and I met at his place or my place in our garages, and, uh, we talked to local manufacturing, um- You know, in our, in our small town.

And, uh, we just had a lot of meetings and talking about it, and it's like, "Hey, what about this? What about that? What about this? What about that?" We tried, and yeah, that didn't work. Yeah, that didn't work until we finally got the product that we have now. And, uh, and again, it wa- it was, again, I would encourage you, no matter what you're doing in the industry, take a, just take an overarching look at everything that's been, look at new, new technologies that are coming out, and see if there's something out there that can marry those two together, and you might be onto something.

So you still work in the industry, and now you're lifting manhole covers with your thumb. Tell us a little bit more about how that's changed your personal work, and then what you've heard from some of your customers in terms of how that's made them more efficient and less, I guess, vulnerable to injuries.

Sure. So on our, on our day-to-day, for example, on our, uh, in our spring flushing, we've gone from 20 to 25 different dead ends we would do a day to 50 or more. We, we doubled it. And, and again, I'm not using, literally using my thumb to pick the lids up rather than, rather than other tools I've used in the past.

And so it's really, our productivity doubled. Our exposure to injury is basically gone. Literally, there's, there's two lids in, in the city of 3,000 that I live in that I need another tool f- for assistance. So the lids are off in the weeds or whatever, you know. But I'll still back down there with the, with the pickup, and, you know, the, the magnet and the lifter will pick up half the lid and I'll pick up the other half, so I have half the weight, so I'm lifting 50, 60, 70 pounds rather than the full amount.

So again, you know, when I look at it and it's like, okay, our productivity doubled. Our exposure to injury has pretty much gone. To me, it's like, okay, I think we solved a problem for the moment. It's gonna get better. Um, honestly, one of my favorite testimonies I've ever, I've ever gotten, uh, you know, is from a, a small municipality in North Dakota.

Shipped one out. I sent them an email a week after they got it. "Hey, how's it working for you?" And he's ... And, and I saw all caps, "Awesome," a bunch of exclamation points. I'm like, okay, that tells me a little bit. Okay, the tool's working. Tell me more. So emailed back, "Tell me more. What happened?" And he said, "Our guys got into a manhole that they have not been able to in the last 20 years.

They got into it the first time they went out there with this lifter." I'm like, "Perfect. Perfect." And so when y- when you hear that from a little municipality in the middle of North Dakota, a lid that they hadn't been into, so they have no idea what the condition of the structure's like, that's a whole 'nother aspect that we haven't even touched on, is the ability now to have, go into every single lid in your municipality and see what the structure's like.

So now you can put budget dollars for replacement or repair or whatever. They hadn't been in that thing for 20 years. It could collapse at any moment. And sure enough, when they popped it 20 years later, um, they're like, "Oh yeah, I'm glad we did, you know, because we need some repair in that." So that's one of my favorite stories.

And so this unit costs about 5,000, maybe a little bit more than that. Um, but when you start putting dollars to it from a return on investment standpoint in terms of doubling your productivity, eliminating the injury risk, that pays for itself pretty quickly. What i- what is your thought around that? I know for a fact that my light duty chiropractic care costs over $70,000 for me alone.

That doesn't account for the employees that came before me that had similar injuries, or the ones that could potentially come after me had they not had this tool. So I mean, to, to, to quantify the return on investment, I don't even know where you'd begin. You know if you, if you wanna look at the last 10 years as a, as a municipality, um, just look at your m- your back and shoulder strains that may be a result of a manual lid, and how many, how many of these tools could you buy for that?

A lot. And it's not just for the municipality. If, if we're an employer that values our team, that values our people, that values their first name, that they're, they have a first name and they're not a number- I really want you to s- to strongly consider their mental health. And I see people who are in the, in the industry or municipal side, you know, and, and I see...

The majority of them I see when they retire have been using approved tools, uh, s- industry standard tools their whole life. I know very few of them that don't have shoulder and back issues. Very, very few. And I would harbor a bet that the majority of them, majority of the injury is from lids. You know, um, we're athletes out there, and when you, and when you're popping lids at, th- that are 100 and, you know, 150 pounds to 210 pounds and you're doing it cold even after a warmup, you might be 20 minutes, a half hour, 40 minutes from lid to lid.

Your body's already cooled down. You're not ready to rock and roll. You're, you're gonna go deadlift cold, and you're gonna do that time and time and time and time again. And, you know, for me it was, I think it was just a, a series of micro injuries. I don't know what the correct term it is, but muscle strains that I had over the years with my back, um, honestly from lids, you know.

And it only took me about 10 years for that really to, to culminate and show up in a bad way, so Steve, you, you just kind of summarized what the WorkReady podcast is all about. It's trying to reinforce to every single person that they are an athlete. Like, the, the work that you do is athletic. And so bringing those sports medicine principles to the workplace, it, it creates career longevity, and it allows you to not get to the end of the, your career broken down.

If you were to leave the leadership of a u- utility or a municipality with one message, what would it be? Your employees aren't a number, they're a person, and they're a person that don't get their identity for their job. Their identity is who they are. So I would encourage you to put whatever you can in place to make sure when they, when they reach that point in time when they can retire or move on to the next position, move on to the next job, that they're moving up and not out.

Steve, if someone remembers three things from this conversation, what would you want them to be? I would, I would encourage you, the first thing is in life, look at every obstacle you're facing, no matter if it's mental or physical or relational, whatever, work, it doesn't matter. Look at every obstacle as an opportunity to level up.

That's number one. Number two, again, is there's only one you, and you matter, so take care of yourself with the right, right food, right drink, right lifestyle, because you matter a lot. And again, number three is just never stop learning. Never stop. I don't... If you're two years into the industry, keep looking.

If you're five years from retirement, keep looking. And the fourth, the, the last thing, 'cause there's one more, just keep dreaming. Honestly, if I hadn't slowed down enough and taken overviewing art of what a look at what was out there, I would have never came up with the best manhole lid removal tool on the market.

But I had to slow down, look at everything that was out there, put all the pieces together, and here we sit. Steve, where can people find more about you, connect with you, or find more about your product? The best way to connect with, with me is on LinkedIn. Just search my name, you'll find me. We also have SoSafe Equipment on LinkedIn, or you could, uh, go to our website.

We've got videos and all sorts of stuff on our website, and that's at shopsosafe.com. Steve, this has been an awesome conversation. I'm just so grateful for you sharing your story, sharing the highs and the lows, and how you were able to work through those and continue to push forward and create something that is just so beneficial for so many people.

So thank you for bringing that product to the market, and thank you for sharing that story with us today. And I'd want to say thank you for listening to the WorkReady podcast. Yeah. Second, if you could subscribe, it just ensures that you're gonna get the new episodes at the top of your feed. And we're just so committed to building a community here where we can learn together, keep people safe, keep people healthy.

And so until next time, take care of yourself, take care of your people, and stay work ready. Thanks so much