Innovative Strategies to STOP Slips, Trips, and Falls

Bob Duffy | Flint Hills Resources, Pine Bend

Dr. Kevin Rindal | Vimocity

Hello everyone, and welcome today, to our ongoing series of live conversations talking about safety related topics, in the industrial workforce.

We're really excited today to talk about preventing slips, trips, and falls. As you know, with Vimocity, we're really focused on helping companies reduce soft tissue injuries, musculoskeletal injuries, which make up about forty percent of all injuries in the workplace across all industries. But, number two in terms of prevalence is typically slips, trips, and falls. So about twenty percent of all industrial injuries fall into this category and oftentimes lead to, you know, anything from just like a sprained ankle or a strained knee to a life altering injury. So there there's something that, are very relevant to, pretty much every company out there. And so today, we have the distinct privilege to, have a conversation with Bob Duffy from, Flint Hills Resources, Pine Bend.

I'm your host, Dr. Kevin Rindal, the cofounder and CEO of Vimocity. And, as I mentioned, we're gonna be really laser focused on this topic of slips, trips, and falls.

Vimocity recently developed a series that focuses on these specific type of injuries. And really, the key aspect to preventing slips, trips, and falls, falls into a couple of key categories. Number one is just the awareness that there are hazards and paying attention. And so we we talk a lot about scanning and planning when you are encountering, different environments. And number two is optimizing your technique when you do encounter, obstacles or opportunities where you might experience a slip, trip, and fall.

And so that's really where we're gonna spend the heart of today, talking with Bob about, some really cool strategies for how to encounter slippery surfaces and some of the technology that they've integrated at Pine Bend that focus on a slip simulator where you can actually have that kinesthetic learning about, how you approach your your environment.

I'll give a little bit of background here on Flint Hills, specifically the Pine Bend location, which is in Minnesota. It is one of the nation's largest oil refining plants. It's about eight hundred acres. I've visited a couple times, and it literally is like a small city. It's unbelievable how large it is. And there are just so many different, changes in surfaces, different environments just in this this facility. And one thing that we've just been so impressed with Pine Bend over our six year relationship, with them is just their constant, focus on innovation and constantly pushing the envelope on how they can create a more safe and resilient culture. So, really excited to talk through some of these, components.

As I mentioned, one of the things that, they have is a slip simulator. We, as a team, had the opportunity to to actually go out there and really experience that firsthand and see how they've taken their, employees through this training and just how very simple techniques can have a massive, difference in terms of when you encounter those situations. So without further ado, I'm gonna invite, Bob Duffy to the stage here. And, Bob, we'd love to hear a little bit more about your background at Pine Bend and, your your background in safety, and we look forward to diving into this conversation.

Sure. Well, thanks for the intro. Those are good good pictures. You guys captured some some perfect moments there where people are slipping around.

As he said, my name is Bob Duffy. Thanks for having me. I enjoy anytime I get to reach out and talk to people about some of the challenges we face and and how we've worked through them. I think that we've we've been on a pretty cool journey. We've got to experience a lot of different things, try different tools, and, meet a lot of cool people along the way. So appreciate that.

Little bit about my background here, I guess. I was a contractor, in a a different refinery prior to coming to Pine Bend. I wanted to kinda reach out and learn more about, you know, different aspects of the refining business. So I came to Pine Bend with an opportunity to become, an operator.

So in 2013, I started out as an operator. Only lasted a couple of years doing that. I've got a background in safety and a a passion for it. So I knew I was gonna go that back that way sometime. An opportunity arose in two thousand fifteen to join the safety department here, and, I've pretty much been here since. So, this is where my passion is, and and I look forward to helping out here if I can.

Awesome. Thank you so much. Well, Bob, as I mentioned, Flint Hills Pine Bend is over eight hundred acres. You have a production capacity of three hundred and fifty thousand barrels per day.

It's, like, unbelievable. And so when I say there are a lot of moving port parts, I mean, it could be further from the truth. I mean, there are so many different aspects to to that facility. Love to hear from you.

What are some of the unique, challenges that employees on a day to day experience when it comes to slips, trips, and falls, the different environments? And, obviously, being in Minnesota, there are some pretty extremes from a temperature perspective. So we'd love to hear from you some of those unique challenges.

Yeah. Well, Minnesota is one of them. You know, pretty wide range of temperatures here anywhere from thirty below to above a hundred. So we get all of those those seasons, luckily, I guess, is what I'm told. So some of the challenges that we see, one is that it's it's a it's very complex. Right? We have fifteen hundred employees on-site, just about every day.

It is the upper Midwest. Right? So when we talk about slips and falls, we average over a little over a hundred and twenty days below freezing. So that is a a challenge. I understand that that's not across the United States, but we all slip and fall. There are different environments that cause that.

Our work is predominantly outside, right? So we do a lot of climbing. There's a lot of equipment out there. There's, you know, steam out throughout throughout the refinery that can condense in places you wouldn't expect it to, and freeze.

So with that being said, great, very complex machine that we've got out here. But adding to that different walking working surfaces. Right? We've got them all. We go from in and out of buildings with tile. We've got refrigerated areas inside. We've got gravel, concrete, and and dirt, and so we we hit them all. So that's definitely a challenge.

Adding to that, we're in the digital age. Right? So that's something we didn't see coming. That is something we've had to adapt to. We've got people with cell phones in their hands or or looking at, tablets while they're walking around.

And then footwear. Because we're in and out of buildings, we're up and down, a lot of challenges there. What's the right footwear for where you're at at the time? And that can change from minute to minute.

And then, again, right on the minute back on the Minnesota thing. It can be fifty degrees right now, and it can be thirty two by the time we leave today. So those are kind of some of our challenges. And then, you know, you you add the the human factor in there. I think we'll get to that a little bit.

But, you know, people are people. You know? We make mistakes.

So love that background. Thank you so much for sharing that, Bob. Like you said, there's so many it's such a dynamic environment, and things are changing so rapidly. And what I've enjoyed in preparation for this call is just learning about all the cool different strategies that you've implemented because there's no one size fits all solution. But the slip simulator has definitely been something that, has served Pine Bend really well, and it has had a meaningful impact, just from a safety perspective.

We'd like to hear a little bit more about, like, how did you decide to go down that route, And then how did you initially implement, and and how do you continue to implement it, in the day to day, with at Pine Bend?

Yeah. So it really we have to go all the way back to two thousand eighteen, really. So we saw an uptick in our slips and falls, events altogether, but, more alarming in, like, a recordable injury rate. So at about that time, we had started along a hop journey, human and organizational performance. So we were already starting to kinda talk through different ways to do things. Right? We were in at that point, we were in business for sixty years. And to see any kind of, trend move upward when it comes to injuries or events, after sixty years of business was we knew we had to do something. The old, walk like a penguin safety talk wasn't working. We'll get to that. But we knew we had to do something different. And being as though we work in the environment we do, we knew that it was a more complex issue than just some a one size fits all approach like you had mentioned. So really, we we took a more holistic approach. We started we put together a team. We called it the seasonal readiness team.

Just a team of all different types of, crafts, operations, management, lab techs. Tried to get a little bit of everyone that worked out here, at least some kind of representation for that, and try to just listen and hear their, you know, their point, I guess, when it comes to slips and falls and where we can improve.

So we did a lot of things.

I could go on and on with those. We changed our boot program.

That seasonal readiness team built an app for, reporting slippery areas or areas with potholes or, you know, you name it, you can report it there, and then we have a team that'll go out and clean those up and fix the the issue.

So that's been very helpful. We we looked at how we're prioritizing slippery surfaces. Right? Do we put this on a list of things to do today, or is this our number one?

So we did a lot of things. Like I said, it's a it's a far more holistic approach than I think, we have time for today. We could talk a lot about that.

We but to to your point, so the slip simulator was one that we did a knowledge share with one of the other refineries in the area.

We figured who better to talk through this with than someone doing the exact same work in the exact same environment.

So they had, a slip simulator. And we went over there and took a look at it, and at first, I wasn't a hundred percent convinced. It it it took a minute or two, to get me to buy into it. But, it was unique. Right? That was the biggest thing about it to me was, this is something we haven't seen before. And we'll get into the details. I know, but it's something that that you can't do with a lot of, hazards. Right? You you don't get the time to physically experience it in in a safe controlled environment. So that was a unique part of it.

So we we decided to give it a shot. And we purchased one, and it's been going really well. Really well. That's yeah. It's such a great kinesthetic learning tool for people to actually experience that, like you said, in a safe and controlled environment. I think for the audience, I know many people have probably experienced this firsthand or maybe seen videos, but we did actually, create a video that when we were out there, we filmed.

Okay.

So we changed conditions with this industrial biodynamics, top secret slip formula.

Also don't ask? We don't just soak them on.

Don't just soak them on.

One thing that Bob preached for many years, and he was wrong, was doing a penguin walk. So as we all know, penguins have large talons, so they have more grip onto the ice. So what you do is put your feet up like this and try walking like a thing.

A lot of places actually still call this out as the proper way to drive. Yeah. Cross height.

So I've heard that recently that and then thought that that was actually the way to do it.

Right. So now we're gonna put all the mass straight up and down with your ears over your shoulders and shoulders over your hips, hips over your feet. And what you're gonna do is more of like a marching band type of walk. So and you're gonna use shorter strides. So you're just gonna do half steps just like this, real natural, walking across, lifting your feet, and making sure the whole surface of your foot gets before.

Yep. Just like that.

Keeping your back straight, looking forward.

So are you a Tommy Reinker? Yes.

Alright. Thank you. I think that's such a great demonstration, a little bit low. But, Bob, do you mind giving us just kind of those, key takeaways of what we oftentimes talk about at Massey? Because I'd always heard, you know, walk like a penguin when you encounter a slippery surface. But, your, mantra is don't walk like a penguin, march like a soldier. So we'd like to hear a little bit more about that.

Yeah. So the kinda to to touch on what this this piece of equipment does, to your point, Kevin, one of the most important things or the the things that I like most about it is that it it allows that for that kinesthetic learning. Right? So when you're talking about hazards, usually, we avoid them. Right? And we do that by instead of of being able to interact with that hazard, we get to sit down and, you know, watch a PowerPoint and listen to someone talk, or we send out an email with a, you know, an article about walking like a penguin, things of that nature.

So it was really eye opening when we started seeing people get on it and start walking across it that one of the the key things that I caught on to was, this allows the individual to be the instructor and the student. Right? When you get to experience something, you're gonna be the one that that knows what you're doing wrong eventually. Right? So when I say that, I get to the point of the the walk like a penguin and where I think that is flawed is if anyone's, if anyone is, familiar with the the human and organizational performance type, mindset, they use the Easter bunny as an example. Right? What is what does an Easter bunny look like to you? So one of the things that we found pretty quickly was we have been putting out the safety tag that said walk like a penguin for years, like, fifteen years.

And then when we get people on the slip simulator and say, alright. Walk like a penguin. I've seen every penguin on planet Earth at this point. You know, some of some people walk with their feet out. Some people do little shuffle steps. Some people quack when they're walking. I don't know. That's kinda weird. But they do.

And, so it made me realize, like, this is when you put out a safety talk, this this depends on the interpretation of the reader. Right? What does that mean to the reader? What we found with that walk like a penguin, which was probably the the most eye opening part is when you turn your feet out to the side, which is what people mostly think of when they think of a penguin, the surface area that you use to propel yourself drastically decreases.

And anytime you decrease the surface area, that you're you're really requiring to stay on your feet, you increase the likelihood that you're gonna slip or fall. So that was out. We knew that was out right away. The more people that we watch and we let everyone do it now. We we encourage people to try to walk like a penguin so that you can see, like, that doesn't work for most people.

So what we do is we we try to redirect that. And instead of leaving it open for interpretation, we get a little more prescriptive with it. And we tell people, you know, whether you're it's a marching band walk or march like a soldier or some things that people connect to.

But either way, just getting people to walk with flat foot to flat foot, keeping a good body posture, we'll hear, or we'll tell people, you know, keep your ears over your shoulders, shoulders over your hips, hips over your knees.

Just that good straight posture helps you out.

And then probably one of the more important things is it it seems to be harder for and this is something we didn't realize until we were playing around with that supes a million. Harder for taller people to walk with shorter strides because their step is is a long it's a long stride in the first place. You know? People like me, I am five foot eight. I don't have a real long walk, so walking, you know, short little shuffle steps is pretty easy to me, but it's awkward for taller people that are on it.

So you really you've gotta you've gotta focus and you gotta pay attention on your walk.

But however you do that, I guess the things that I would say would be those short steps, maybe half steps, or even quarter steps, if if you will.

And then slowing down your pace, slowing your your momentum. Momentum can be your friend on slippery surfaces, but not usually.

So just slowing down, like I said, flat foot to flat foot, and and those those little steps would be the three things there. So technique is a huge one.

Man, that's great. Well, Bob, as you mentioned, like, you have so many different, you know, approaches for preventing some strips and falls. You've talked about your boot program. You've talked about, like, the QR codes that people can scan to report different, you know, things like maybe ice or ice melt needs to be turned out or a pot will needs to be filled.

All of those fit into this this bigger picture. But can you tell us a little bit more about, like, number one, the overall reaction of the workforce when they experienced that? Like, was it something that was positive? Maybe, you know, some feedback that you've heard.

And then number two, how's it impacted you as an organization?

Yeah.

So being honest, at at first, we got heckled a little bit. People thought it was goofy. It was just another thing. It's another flavor of the day. And pretty quickly, we started seeing that change. You know, it's it's quirky. It's odd. It's different.

It it makes for a more engaged, kind of lighter mood safety meeting. So we started seeing people ask us to come up and do it rather than us setting them up to get on it. So we do set the new employees up to come up and walk over it.

But we've seen throughout the years, almost it takes almost no, marketing whatsoever at this point. People know it's starting to get cold, and they start signing their teams up. Usually or I should say early on, it was mostly supervisors setting their teams up on it.

And then people would come whether it was, you know, voluntary or not, they would come. But, then we started to see a shift in where people getting on the slip simulator would go back just workforce type, Would go back to their groups, tell them about it, and then they bring a group up. Right? So now they get to be the leader.

They get they know what's coming. Right? Because all we do is make it more and more difficult for them to walk on it the whole time they're on it. We have obstacles, and then we have a fun little ping pong game where, you know, the person walking across it carries a a cup full of water, and everyone else tries to throw ping pongs into the into the cup. And that's fun, but it's got a theoretical, application to it too. Right? Like, that's a distraction. And that's one of those things I was talking about is you add that human element into the environmental element.

People react differently. So a lot of times, what we'll see when people walk across with that cup, as those ping pong balls start flying, people start dodging the ping pong balls, water spills everywhere, and makes it even worse because it gets more slippery the more water you put on it.

And that's difficult for people. So letting them work through that and paying attention to just keep your mind on, focused, you know, mind on the prize. Get to the end. If a little bit of water falls and you keep your your, your the techniques we taught you, keep, you know, your posture good, and make it to the end. You can deal with this the the spilled coffee or whatever we use as an example at the time. So that's the fun part of it. That's really the benefit in it that we see.

I don't get many people asking me to come down and do a PowerPoint in their unit. You know? But we get a lot of people coming up and, getting on the slip simulator. So since we've implemented it, we've had a little over eight hundred people get on it, which is phenomenal, I think. For it being, it's a hundred percent voluntary. We don't make anybody do it. Like I said, if a supervisor brings its team up, we make sure that they understand.

If they don't wanna get on it, that's fine. Sit back and watch. You can get something from watching it. You'll see body, you know, body language change, from the first time they walk across it to the last time they walk across it because they start to realize, like I said before, they're the the instructor and the the student. They start to realize what they've gotta do to get across these, these surfaces that that put them in harm's way.

And then as far as the, the benefit to the organization, The the first year that we implemented this, we saw just about a seventy percent decrease in our slip related incidents.

And then two years in a row, we had none. So we saw a hundred percent those those following two years. And we've had some here and there. You know, it's gonna happen. We walk across ice and and it'll melt one day because it's beautiful. And the next morning, it's twenty degrees and everything froze back up. So we're gonna have that, but we saw a drastic decrease.

That's such a awesome case study of of how that education injuries and quality of life of of your workforce. Because, I mean, these are the types of the things that fall people home. I mean, people are walking up to their doorsteps and through parking lots, and it's so so it's something that, you know, we encounter both on and off the job. Well, we're gonna wrap things up, Bob. This has been a fantastic conversation.

I know the audience has definitely benefit from it. One maybe final remark would just be, you know, we know that not everyone has access to, a subtropical ball simulator. So what is maybe, like, one or two takeaways that they could bring back to their team, as they encounter the winter months?

I would say one or two. I would probably say, lead on your employees. They're the ones that do the work out in the the field and whatnot. And, if you have a culture that is willing to listen to the employees, they'll tell you where their pain points are, and that'll allow you to get them the right tools for the job, whether that be the right footwear or or if they need, you know, a piece of equipment spend, kind of a bad actor or whatnot.

So that would be one. And then the other one is, you know, do some research on on techniques, kind of things that I've talked about here.

Technique is huge. I know you guys just rolled out those tools for the slippery times or slippery surfaces and whatnot. That's that's huge. So, yeah, listen to listen to the employees. They'll tell you where their pain points are, and, use the right tool for the job. Get creative. It's fun.

I love it. Such a great summary. Well, thank you so much for being a part of this conversation, Bob, sharing your knowledge and way to lead the way in innovation and safety.

Thanks to all the audience members for for joining. We will be following up with some additional resources as well as the recording of this conversation.  And if you have a desire to to join in, future conversations like this, just let us know, and we'll make sure to definitely add you to the list.

But once again, Bob, we can't thank you enough.

Awesome. Thank you.