Margarita

My people are safety people. It took me a while to figure that out...

It is hard to be in safety and not genuinely care about people. This is why I relate to EHS and IH more than any of the other people I work with. Bare with me while I give you some background before I get to my main points.

My very first job out of college I worked at a big well-known company in Indiana. The location I worked at was a small soybean and corn R&D facility. I was a supervisor of a crew of 10 people and we would go out into the field and collect samples. Sounds cool and super important...we were literally hole punching soybeans and putting them in little tubes in the middle of summer. It was so hot and there were SO many bugs (after you read this look up cicada killers). I remember it like yesterday and not 12 years ago.

It was close to where I was, and I wasn't entirely sure what I wanted to do with my wildlife degree (that is a story for another article). My technical degree is a Bachelor of Science in Agriculture to this kind of fit to get some experience while I was applying to other jobs.

On my team there were mostly teenagers that were off of school for the summer and then there was Margarita. She was a tiny, hispanic woman who spoke very little English and wobbled a little when she walked. She reminded me of my Welli (short for abuela) and I could not image her working.

I remember meeting my team and the first question I asked was directed at Margarita...

"WHY ARE YOU HERE!?"

I will never forget her answer "I help my son, he work hard for me".

*now I need a minute*

She was the happiest, silliest person I have ever meet! She showed up EVERY DAY, made jokes, mostly bad singing making fun of the music we were listening to.

She sat in that soybean field with her sun hat, long sleeves, and punched holes in leaves in 90+ degrees Fahrenheit . To pass the time she taught me Spanish and I taught her English.

Where am I going with this?

Our meetings were in English, we would get instructions and get sent off for the day. Everyone would load up the trucks so we can go to our site and she would kind of pause, and it came up that she didn't know what was going on because she wasn't doing what she was supposed to. Not because she didn't want to she was a hard worker, she literally didn't understand the instructions.

When I heard this, I remember jokingly telling my supervisor, "let me give you instructions in Spanish then go tell management you are being insubordinate".

I ended up translating EVERY meeting after the meeting to all the Spanish speakers. They were beyond grateful which was so rewarding and the right thing to do.

MY FIRST POINT: We have to be mindful when we are giving instructions or safety training, that they are given in a way that the person executing them can understand.

As a supervisor, manager, leader etc we are privy to information they are not, or maybe education levels are different.

MY SECOND POINT: Get to know your people, or the people doing the work on the production floor or in any profession really.

As you can imagine, this work was hot, repetitive, and uncomfortable. You are kneeling, crouched, or sitting in the middle of rows of soybeans. Since Margarita was obviously not going to complain about the work, I could see how uncomfortable she was scooting down the rows and getting up from the ground. I asked her if she would like me to get her something to sit on...hence the crate in the picture.

I am not sure where she is now, she was so happy for me that I got a new job. When I left I wanted to bring her with but I was moving from Indiana to Georgia for the new position. She didn't have a phone or email or anything to keep in touch at the time.

I know wherever she is that she is happy, because that is who she was.

MY FINAL POINT: No matter the background, language, education, people are people and they deserve to be at the very least safe and as comfortable as they can be in their work environment.