Shed Geek Podcast

STEEL KINGS: Post Frame Safety

• Shed Geek Podcast • Season 6 • Episode 11

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Want a safer crew and a stronger business without slowing the job? We sit down with NFBA safety leaders Todd Meinhold (HD Quality Builders) and David Underwood (FBI Buildings) to unpack how smart builders cut fall risk, train new hires the right way, and engineer hazards out before a single nail is driven. The conversation goes beyond compliance to show how culture, process, and equipment choices translate into retention, predictable schedules, and a brand clients trust.

We start with the realities of a changing workforce and why a clear, simple starting point matters when regulations feel overwhelming. David shares how FBI Buildings puts every new hire through a six-hour safety orientation before they step on site, then sustains the habit with daily tailgate talks and foreman coaching. From ladder footing to rebar caps to speaking up about another trade’s hazard, the goal is a culture where stopping unsafe work is normal—and walking away from a jobsite is on the table when conditions aren’t fixed.

Then we dig into engineering controls that change the physics of risk. Todd explains his permanent ridge anchor system, designed to solve the “first up, last down” problem for installs and future service. David breaks down the Q Lift approach that assembles more at ground level and raises components to cut exposure at height. These aren’t shortcuts; they’re smarter methods that reduce falls—the leading cause of death in construction—while keeping projects moving with fewer surprises and claims.

If you’re building post-frame, NFBA membership is a force multiplier: practical templates, expert guidance, discounts on gear like permanent anchors, and a community that shares what works. Walk away with a punch list you can use tomorrow: open your day with a five‑minute safety huddle, verify ladder and tie‑off points, control foundation and site conditions, audit your gear, and document fixes. Ready to lead from the front? Hit follow, share this with your crew, and drop a comment with the one safety change you’ll implement this week. Subscribe for more conversations that help you build safer, faster, and better.

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This episodes Sponsors:
Studio Sponsor: J Money LLC

INTRO:

Hey, this is Joel Oney at J Money in the heart of the Buckeye State. And I want to personally welcome you to today's episode of the Steel Kings podcast with my good friends Jared Ledford and Eric Olson, better known as the Steel Kings. Be sure to check out JMoneyLLC.com for financing solutions for your buildings. And now let's get back to the Steel Kings podcast. What I'll tell you, dude, is I am beyond excited. I am Jared Ledford. It is time to get motivated about your business. It's time for some personal development. It's time to get out and shaking howdy with people. I can tell you, man, the Steel Kings are dude. We have been busy. What one thing, I mean, if I can say one statement about this Shed Show, is that people need direct help from unboxing function. I'm Jared. He's Eric. We are to get out in your communities, everybody, and do something good for somebody else. It'll make you feel better.

Jared:

What's going on, guys? I'm Jared. Over there is my best pal Eric, and we are the Steel Kings. Back at you with another episode of the podcast. Eric, brother, what's going on, man? How are you?

Eric:

Bro, that that in that intro is so cool.

Jared:

It never gets old, does it?

Eric:

It is cool watching.

Jared:

Yeah. Oh man. We are back at you. Go ahead.

Eric:

Odd day to have a podcast, but you know what? We we started the year with episode one. Yep. We're ending the year with episode, I don't even know what what this is this is for this is 45.

Jared:

So 45 episodes. We are peek behind the curtain for today as we're filming this on December 31st. You guys are going to be getting this as the eight-part series on the NFBA Trade Expo is moving forward. We are excited and uh really, really excited for the NFBA trade conference in Oklahoma City at the end of February. We have been bringing you content specifically related to post frame, and we've got another really good one for you today. We talked to Randy and we've talked to the guys at Burrows, we've talked to the NFBA president. Um, we're bringing you guys a lot of content, and we want you guys to sit back, relax a little bit, and learn today. I think that's probably where we're going to go today. One of the things that we've talked about on the podcast that's been really important to me has been safety and making sure that when you do a job, you do it the right way. And we are connecting today with two guys that, man, we just got off of uh about a half an hour runway getting into this conversation, and I'm super excited, bro. What about you?

Eric:

I am patiently awaiting. Um excited. So I'm getting geared up. We've been picking up some clients, and I'm just chomping at the bit.

Jared:

Yeah, we've got Todd from HD uh from HD uh quality builders, and we've got David from FBI buildings. These guys are on the NFB safety say NFBA safety committee, say that three times fast. NFBA safety committee. These guys are doing some revolutionary things in trying to help you do a better job, be more safe on the job, and move on to the next one. So I'm gonna bring them in, man. Todd and David. Yeah, let's do it. Let's do it. What's going on, guys? What's going on, man?

David:

Hey guys, how's it going?

Todd:

Good, man. December 31st. I mean, December 31st. What would you rather be doing than this, right?

Jared:

I can tell you, I was uh I had a long drive this morning. It's been uh it's been a beyond uh blessed and merry holiday season. I'm excited for a new year. Um, I can tell you, most everybody will get this conversation either the last week of January, first week of February. We are pumped up and excited for the NFBA trade expo in Oklahoma City, February 25th through the 27th. I know you guys are too. And I just want you guys to introduce yourselves. I gave you guys a little bit of an intro, but but Todd and David, as we discussed, you guys are on the NFBA safety committee. Tell me about what you guys do. Todd, tell us who you are and and what you're bringing to the table today.

Todd:

Uh yeah, Todd Meinhold. Uh, as you said, I'm co-chair of the safety committee and uh boarding director on the NFBA board uh as a builder in central Illinois, um trying to provide my part in bringing safety to an industry where uh we got a lot of young folks entering. And if you don't know how dangerous it is, uh boy, you can get hurt in a hurry. So just trying to do our part in bringing awareness to safety, it matters. Yeah, man.

Jared:

Yeah. David, how about you, brother?

David:

Yeah, uh I am the uh uh former chair of the NFBA safety committee. I I work for this with the safety committee still, um, but just as a member now. And uh uh I am the EHS director for FBI buildings, and for those of you who don't know what EHS stands for, it's uh environmental health and safety. So I'm responsible for uh hazard assessments, procedure development, policies, uh training, things of that nature all related to safety management systems for our builders.

Jared:

That's awesome. So one of the things we've been talking about, obviously, through this process is as we're getting gearing up for the trade expo, the NFBA, if you're not a member of the NFBA, get on there, start learning. Because I can tell you the one thing that I have found the most fascinating about the NFBA as a trade association, as a group that has your back. So if you are a current contractor or maybe you're selling whatever your process is in the post-frame world, the NFBA is there to help you with educational tools. That's probably the number one thing you're gonna be able to get from them is you're gonna get yourself a book education on how to do what you're doing and how to do it a little bit better. And we all know, you know, Eric and I can tell can testify to this, everybody can do what they do better, even if you're a master and you've been doing it for 30 years, there's probably something that you can pick up by learning a little bit more about what you're doing and honing your craft just a little bit more. Todd, we were talking about some things off the call. I kind of just want to keep that all right here. I want to talk about what you guys are doing at the NFBA level. I want to talk about individually what you two are doing. Um, you guys kind of lead the way. I can tell you one thing that I definitely want to talk about is relating to safety. What things have changed in the last couple of years? What are you guys seeing out of right now?

Todd:

Yeah, as a safety committee, you know, the NFBA, we are an association of builders and suppliers. So it's a it's a group that puts competition aside to grow our industry and do it as safely as possible. And as a trade association, uh as Dave has said, uh, you know, he's been at it a long time. And as the industry is changing over from the 20, 30, 40-year experienced worker to the new worker that knows literally nothing. And I always joke, a lot of our new employees have never climbed a tree. I ask them, you ever climb a tree? Young kids, nope, it's too dangerous, and that yet you're coming into an industry that danger is around you every day. So as the association, um you know, taking on that safety side of nobody nobody wants to work safely, uh, as yet we have to, because we all need to get home. Yeah. And how do we educate enough, as Dave said earlier, how do we educate someone enough that goes from I'm being told to do this to it's my desire and my choice to work safely?

Jared:

Well, I think one thing I want to add to that, and I I know David's gonna have some answers to this. What I hear a lot of times from people is it's not that I don't want to be safe. Okay. I'm not trying to skirt on safety. I care about being safe, I care about my well-being, but there's so many things that get in my way, and I know how to do it a different way, or I can be more efficient if I do it like this, and I know how to do it. I'm being safe. I'm sure you guys have heard that. I mean, you guys are literally on the safety committee. I'm not, and I've heard it. So I know that you guys are hearing stuff like that. Dave, can you elaborate a little bit on that for me?

David:

Yeah, I I think education is a real key part to any safety management system. As you know, as you pointed out, Jared, one of the perks of NFBA is the resources it provides to its contractors, right? You know, uh a lot of people, I feel like when they start out with uh a post-frame construction company, or even if they've been in business for 10, 15 years, they're not real sure, like, okay, where do where's my starting point? Right? OSHA regulations, uh, Department of Labor regulations, they seem like this big, huge hurdle to overcome. And ultimately, that's what the NFBA provides to you. They'll give you a starting point, say, hey, here's where it's at, and then we uh offer the opportunities of resources such as myself, uh other safety professionals uh that are on the committee, such as Todd, that will uh help guide you if you have any questions. So, you know, I think that what when it really boils down to is um do you have uh a strong understanding of what's actually required of you, right? What what should I be doing? Because as we discussed earlier, I think a lot of these kids now are coming in and they want to do the right things. They're the the a lot of the the oh, for lack of a better phrase, the old cowboy mentality, get it done no matter what, it it's starting to go away. And I think that um for a lot of these kids now, when you have a good, effective safety management system and safety program, your retention rates have go way up. I mean, we at FBI buildings have proven that, um, especially over the last five or six years, that our retention rates have gone way up just uh through our uh management systems.

Eric:

Would you say that? So I'm just picturing a guy building a tree house 40 years ago. You know, you're you're you're just winging it with your dad, and you look here. This now there's like training and there's classes, and you're you know, if you're if you're a new builder, definitely at some structured businesses like you guys, like you're in a classroom probably for a little bit of time, and you're not really doing major stuff because the communication is safety first, first, then as you kind of build that, you're you're really building it on a foundation of like having the habit of doing it the right way, which maybe you wouldn't even think about it. I'm being safe, you're just doing it the way that you've been told, and that's probably the best thing is not to look, okay. Am I doing it the right way? Am I am I cutting corners? You know, you're just doing it the way you've been instructed. So that's that's a heck of uh you guys are pretty safe companies. Um I mean, you guys are both powerhouses, so obviously you're doing something right.

David:

You know, it's funny. I'm minimizing, trying to be safe. Talk to some of our guys, but before our guys, any any new hire is even allowed to step foot on a on a job site, they have a six-hour long or sit just solely safety orientation where we go over what are the hazards associated with your job, how do we protect ourselves from those hazards, what equipment is provided to you, right? All these resources that are available. Um, so they go through six hours of onboarding orientation before they're even allowed to step foot on a job site. And really, it it kind of starts out, as you pointed out, setting the initial tone of okay, we're gonna make sure you guys are protected, you have a responsibility to yourself to make sure you're protected, right?

Jared:

Yeah, I I I like that so much because one of the things that we talked about offline that I want to bring up is as we work towards doing our pole barns, right? One of the big hurdles that we've had is finding the right subcontractors, finding the right people to work alongside of us. And one of the things that we've prided ourselves on at Five Rivers is that we are not going to work with people that are not following regulations, not being safe, and not just because we want to cover our own behinds, we don't want to work with people who are not safe. And I think that if we can again work with the NFBA, all rising tide raises all ships. We've talked about this. Eric and I are big on that. When you said putting aside personal gain for the growth of the industry, I think that's long and short. I think Dave or Todd, you said that already. But I mean, I can tell you that's what I love the most about the NFBA from an outsider's perspective, who's just now enjoying the fringe benefits of getting on the inside. I've learned so much just from meeting new folks that are connected and giving me uh a lifelong worth of knowledge. I mean, the two of you guys have been doing this so long. I mean, I I could I could literally listen to you guys talk all day and probably not hear the same thing twice. One thing I do want to hype Dave works with FBI buildings, they've got a YouTube channel. So check out FBI buildings 1958, the post frame channel. I I had not seen this, and I'm I'm on YouTube all the time. I can tell you lots of cool stuff. So start there, number one, start there, check out NFBA as well, because this will this will take you from someone who just wants to know something to someone who needs to know something. You will find something either through the FBI building's YouTube page or NFBA. Like that's what we want to do right now in these series of episodes is give you guys the toolbox necessary to take your businesses to the next level and meet us at the trade expo, man. You know, all these folks that we're interviewing and stuff, they're gonna be there. We're gonna be walking the walking the trade show floor. If you see us, tell us hi. You know what I mean? Do not hesitate to walk right up to us and ask us a question because that's what we're all here for, myself and Eric included. We are here to answer your questions and be of service to you. I can tell you, Todd, tell us about what you're doing, tell us about what your company does specifically in safety-related measures, because I was really intrigued by that. And we actually got cut off in our pre-interview about that.

Todd:

Yeah, so Ridgeline Safety Systems. It's uh it's an anchor system that I developed and patented. It goes onto your building, it goes onto your truss as you're sat in the truss, and it's up there permanently, it's up there for the life of the building. Uh, we have an exposed tab version where uh uh the ridge cap goes over the top of this anchor. You know, doing a lot of residential metal roofing, part of how I come up with the anchor was why do we do the most dangerous activity last, which is putting the ridge cap on. And then somehow we got to get down. And, you know, Dave, will attest, uh, OSHA's got this uh gray area policy where it's first up, last down, where somebody's got to get up there to put the anchor up. And then somebody's got to come down after you're done. And so part of the anchor system was how do I solve this in not only during construction, but under a service type situation? Electrician, plumber, chimney sweep, you name it, even even the the crew that put the building up or structure, you know, you got to get back up there. How do you do it safely? Go up the gable end, tie off. So that was the premise behind uh developing this this in the industry. And Dave and FBI have been long-term, long time supporters of safety with the NFBA, and their system they have today is a testament to that. And years ago, they did some cable systems, and really I'm trying to solve that first up, last down, that really gave me an opportunity to come to the NFBA and help sit on the safety committee to where um it's been a lifelong problem and it's gonna continue to. And so we developed this anchor for folks to use, and and I gotta be honest with you, uh FBI does a great job at a safety. We have more homeowners buying anchors than we have builders. That's that's our challenge in our industry, and why Dave continues to sit on the safety committee even after chairing it, is we get to see the perils of not acting, not knowing or doing things safely. So it's ridgelinesafety.com, ridgeline safety systems.

David:

Okay, great, great product. You know, I I I give kudos to Todd on that. One of the big challenges we had many, many years ago in post-train industry, especially when we started the the uh safety committee. Uh, I think that was in 2015, um was the lack of availability for for anchor points, things of that nature that would work with the post-train industry for eight foot on center trusses. Um, and Todd really is has spearheaded a lot of that.

Jared:

What I like about it is it's permanent, permanent. So once it's there, it's there. And then you know, if you need serviced, if there's something going on, if you need a re-roof, you guys do. I was actually checking it out. I'm just gonna run through it real quick. I mean, you guys do retrofits, there's all kinds of cool stuff. I can tell you, yeah, yeah. If you guys are in the roofing industry, past post frame, I know there's a lot of roofers that listen to this. Yeah, ridgeline safety systems, you want to check this thing out, it is absolutely awesome, and it's a huge value add for your homeowner, too. If you're buying them and installing them at roofing time, it is a value add prop, period. Because I can tell you, if I had an anchor system on top, I just built a house five years ago. I can tell you, I want the anchors right now. How easy would it have been? How easy would it have been to do that? How easy would it have been to do those Christmas lights?

David:

You know, I don't know about it easier, but certainly safer.

Jared:

Yes, yeah, definitely not easier. It's never easy. But I can tell you, I hate getting on the roof. I can't stand getting up on my roof. It is dangerous, man. And I got mad respect to people who are listening to this, guys like Todd and Dave, who have been up on roofs a lot more than me. Do something for yourselves, make yourselves a little bit safer. I can tell you, Eric, you were gonna say something, brother.

Eric:

Well, ridgelinesafety.com. Like you don't even have to scroll when you go to it, you can just see exactly how it works. The video is sweet.

Jared:

I'm looking at it right now. I'm literally watching it. You guys, I mean, you guys did great with that. Todd, that's awesome, man. And and see, we were talking about revolutionary changes to an industry, right? And one of the things that I hyped up on on Dave prior to call was I had seen a video of FBI. Doing an install where they basically manufacture walls and pull them up. And Dave, you had a big called the Q lift. The Q lift. This is something FBI buildings get on their YouTube page. They have cool videos, man. But I can tell you, Dave, how I mean, how did that come about? You guys changed the way people do things. Put a shirt on one sleeve at a time. Now all of a sudden you just throw it on.

David:

So yeah, you know, uh, it's interesting. It actually came around. Um, gosh, I think we've been doing it maybe five or six years now. We had a we had a change in some leadership, and we all sat down with uh the new leadership team and uh Ken Colbreth uh was really the the guy who who had the idea like hey why don't we just eliminate the risk of falling? And we start all we all sat around the table and said, Well, how do you do that in construction? He goes, Well, easy. We start with the roof and and uh pick it up from the from the roof, and then we got engineers involved, but but really it was rooted around safety, right? How do you uh you know the the the older mindset where we uh have PPE systems, which is the the least effective safety system, right? And in safety management systems, is if you were to to Google safety management systems or safety uh controls, uh elimination is the best, and PPE is the worst, is the last line of defense. So uh right about in the middle is called engineering systems, which is what we really we really strove for. We're like, okay, how do we engineer the fall hazard out of our building? Right. So now we didn't obviously didn't completely engineer it out of the building because when you have a uh say a truss that's a hundred foot wide, they're like 14 feet tall. Um but uh we still have have done a great deal to minimize the exposure uh to tolerable levels. I'll tell you, especially with with falls being the number one killer in construction.

Jared:

I I can tell you if you guys have not seen Q lift, I mean I'm I'm literally I've got a video pulled up right here, and we'll try to we'll try to put some links in on the descriptions and things. There are so many very cool things that you can do in this industry, and one thing I want to absolutely call out right now is we have two people that have helped revolutionize changes in this industry in a way to make you safer. And why would you not want to do something that keeps you safe, keeps you going home to your family, your friends, your loved ones? We talked about it a little bit before we got on the call. Like, this could be the last day that you step outside your home if you're not safe about it. And I hate to say that, you know, it's the end of the year, I get a you know, you guys have heard this on the last few episodes. I get a little bit emotional this time of the year because it's one year I'm older, one year my kids are older. But I can tell you, if you're not taking the safety of what you're doing, if you're a manufacturer or you're uh a builder, if you are not taking caution in what you're doing and doing it at a high level, don't bother doing it. That's just my that's my recommendation to you. If it takes you an extra two minutes and it could save your life, is it worth two minutes? I think it probably is. And I mean, take it from somebody who is scared to death of getting on a ladder. I don't, I don't turn wrenches, I don't, I don't hammer nails. Okay. I'm I I I have all the respect in the world for the people that do. Y'all know that you've heard me say it. I would not have a job without people on the other end hammering nails, putting together trusses, and all that stuff. And I've been out to the manufacturing houses on both steel and wood side, I have immense amount of respect, but I can tell you never discount time for safety. That's just my recommendation. And I don't even do it, you know. You can find the time if you're alive, you can find the time if you're living and breathing, brother. But I can tell you, the second you go off of a ladder and you fall down and break your leg or hip, what what's I mean, you might not die. Okay, that's being very dramatic. Now you could, and there have been people that have, right? And and I respect that, but you need to understand you could fall off a ladder and break your leg, and what's that gonna do for your financial situation? Yeah, you have to be able to work to turn money for your family to continue to do the things that you love and enjoy doing outside work. So when we start to talk about safety, it is paramount that you hear somebody like me or Todd, Dave, or Eric stress to you the reason why you're safe is to live tomorrow to see another one and then another one, making more money for your family, taking care of your friends and loved ones, enjoying your kids or whatever you do in your spare time, right? So, what do you guys? I mean, what do you guys write? What's the number one step? We're gonna go way over time, and I already told Todd and Dave, I want to have them back on episodes individually. But what would you guys what's the number one step if you're sitting here listening? Anyone who's listening to this podcast, what's the very first thing they need to do right now?

Todd:

I'm a member, become a member of the and you know, and that that sounds simple, but by by becoming a member of the NFBA, it opens you up to an association that cares about you getting home. And and then through that, you get the opportunity to connect with me or Dave or the rest of the committee, and and then just the resources, all the money that FBI spends on safety and Dave's knowledge all comes back through the NFBA membership, yeah, through those links and the safety manual. So for me, first step is become a member. And once you're a member, it opens you up to all those benefits.

Jared:

There's so many benefits, right? So I'm glad you I'm glad you guys brought that up. We haven't really dug into that, and I'm going to dig into it today because Todd, you brought it up and you opened the door for me. Ridgeline safety systems. Todd owns that company. He developed the Ridgeline Safety System. You will get a discount as an NFBA member. So that's number one. If you're interested in Ridgeline Safety Systems, check out NFBA.org and become a member, you'll get a discount. Burrows, who we just had on, they do a discount. FedEx, QuickBooks, so many premium A plus businesses are involved with the NFBA. What I can tell you from an outsider's perspective, what I've learned in just a few months, I had an immense amount of respect and had been to the trade show already as a non-member. I can say that. What I've gotten in value prop, his value is far exceeded what I ever would have anticipated. Right. As it it's it's not that expensive. Like, that's the thing I'm gonna get into right this second. Like, it's not that expensive. I think it's 500 a year, something like that. I've never mentioned that. I think it's 500 a year. Am I right about that, Todd? Yeah, yeah, it's it's cheap. Again, that's yeah, pennies on the dollar, yeah, pennies on the dollar. And I don't get let me just stress this to you guys from a Steel Kings perspective. We don't get a cut of any of this, we're not in this for the money, and NFBA is not sponsoring us. We're doing this because we want to, we're doing this because we want to bring awareness to an industry that we feel is underserved in a lot of ways in this particular space, like the podcast world. We want to talk to people like Dave and Todd. We don't get Eric and I make zero dollars from the Steel Kings podcast, just so everybody understands that's listening to this. Our partners like Define SEO, Velocity360, Idea Room, Cal, J Money. These guys have come to the table in a way to let us advertise their products and bring you value add prop to your businesses. We're not in the we're not in the advisory panel business. We don't necessarily want to tell you who to use or what to do. We want to tell you what works for us. We want to be good partners for you long term. We want you to listen to us and say, you know what? I learned something on that podcast that might have saved my life next week. That's what I want. I want you to come up and say, hey man, I really enjoyed your podcast about XYZ. I want you to come up and tell me a year from now why you signed up for NFBA was because you heard about it, you heard Todd and Dave hyping it up, and you learned something that made your business more successful tomorrow. Because I truly believe that if we can all come into one accord, there are plenty of buildings to be sold. There will definitely be buildings sold tomorrow by somebody other than me, and I don't lose a wink of sleep over it. I don't even care about it. I care about my customers that come talk to me. I give them the best service that I possibly can. I don't need to go hurt anybody else to do business. I want to help you do better business. What I don't want is I don't want to get a call from a customer that said they worked with you and they had a bad experience because I'll call you out for it when I see you. You know, that's the facts. What I can tell you is the things that I've heard about HD quality builders, the things I've heard about FBI buildings. You guys can research it yourselves. You don't need me to tell you.

Eric:

You guys are all over the place.

Jared:

Yeah, that's why you guys are here. That's why you guys are NFBA board members and safety committee members and involved. You guys are revolutionizing this industry through a trade up through a trade association that frankly is doing it every day, is revolutionizing what we do. And I can tell you, man, if you're not a member of the NFBA, Todd said that's your number one step. Pass the NFBA, right? Let's assume we're members. What's the number one thing that you guys would recommend to double check on your job site tomorrow? What's the number one thing you guys see as being an issue?

David:

I think it's a self-check of job site. How much how often are you talking to your employees about safety? How often is it a conversation, right? There, there's there's countless items and there's countless things that that you could be concerned about, but really as you talk to them, are you discussing safety uh on the site? Is it part of the conversation? Are you when you when you tell a guy, as you pointed out, Jared, you know, go grab this ladder and and and go up there and do XYZ? Are you talking to him like, hey, make sure it's a firm base? Because we had a guy the other week with a base start that started to slide out on him, right? Or uh go get um John Smith over here to hold your base so it doesn't happen again because we want to make sure that it's and that's really in my perspective is you start with a safety program and you start um influencing the culture of safety at your job sites. That's that's really where where it where it um starts out is the conversations between your crew foreman or uh the owner builders between the the uh uh the workers on site, like hey, you're gonna be 20 feet up in the air, you need to make sure you're wearing fall protection because if you fell, there's a significant chance you're gonna get seriously hurt or killed, right? Yeah, so you know it's interesting as I pointed out earlier, falls the number one killer in construction, it kills roughly about 400 carpenters per year, uh on average. Uh, but you you really think about that, so it kills 400 people, but how many thousands of other carpenters are getting permanently injured that it really isn't pointed out, right? Yeah, significantly. Yeah, so that's a lot, that's a lot, man.

Jared:

That's a lot of people. 400 400 lives. I mean, that's you know, that's a lot of folks. And and let me tell you something. I want to clarify one thing I said. An FBA membership starts at 200 a year, depending on where you're at in your professional level. It goes up from there depending on who you are, what you're doing, whether you're a contractor or business professional. So I want to clear that up. I can tell you, you would benefit immensely from what you can learn by taking your time and visiting FBA.org and getting connected with the NFBA on a higher level. That's beyond anything else. I think setting aside processes, like Dave just said, is a super big thing. I mean, you guys should be doing that anyways. Checking in with your with your crews regularly, checking in on safety, making sure that components are up to date. Like something like a ladder over time, probably should be replaced, guys. You know, over time that ladder has been used a lot. It might have been dropped, it might have been compromised. Just check your tool base too. Check what you're using and make sure that you're safe. You know, check out things like ridgeline safety systems. If you haven't upgraded anything lately, maybe take a double check on that. Create a process for yourself. One of the things I really like is I really like processes. Every job site should have a checkoff sheet, a safety checkoff sheet, should have a process in place for that. Every single job site should be part of your packet that you have to your contractors. If you're a if you're a dealer or a salesperson like me, that was one of the first things I looked at was a safety checkoff sheet. Do we have all of the things on site that we need to be compliant? There's things that you need on site to make sure that you have in case there is an emergency. There are lots of things that you need to be double and triple checking, not just because it's the right thing to do, but again, it could save your life or a life of one of your teammates. And these are just things that if you did it one time, if you took the time, built your process, had your toolkit, had your first aid kit, had whatever you needed on site, ready to go on every single job site. How much more efficient would you be the next time? And how much safer would you be the next time? Seriously, take that time and consider it. Because I can tell you, the last thing that you want to do is you don't want to be one of those 400 folks that loses their life this year just doing what they what they do every day. I can tell you that right now. We've all we we have all probably had someone that we know get hurt or killed. You know, I shared this earlier with the guys. We lost a contractor a couple years ago on a metal building job, got electrocuted. Uh you know, I I use the term friend loosely, but I knew him. I mean, he'd done several buildings for us, and you know, ultimately it's not my fault, it's not has nothing to do with Dayton Barns, but I think about it a lot, and it made me change my process on how I ask customers like, hey, are there electrical lines over top of your job site? Because if there are, they better be 25-30 feet in the air. And if not, they have to come down or be moved. Period. We're not installing underneath of live lines, period. It's not happening, like we're not even going to consider it. And that was a process that we changed at Dayton Barns just on a sales perspective. You know, when you get asked the question, is the job site ready? There's a lot that goes into that. That is a very broad question, and you need to ask yourselves is the ground level what's the ground compromised of? What's the ground going to be compromised of when you actually install the building? Are you doing the foundation work? Are you installing on somebody else's foundation work? Are you coming in behind somebody else? Those are all questions. And what Todd said to me was he does turnkey projects, he does them all from start to finish. And I would argue that that's the way they all should be done. The foundation that the building sits on should be the responsibility of the person putting the building up. That's just the way I feel about it. If you can't do that, you need to be working in line and in step with the person who's doing your foundation. That's just my opinion. I don't know how you guys feel about that, but that goes into a lot of safety concerns for me. I hate coming in after the fact, you know, and you don't know what the concrete composition is, you don't know what the makeup looks like. You know, hey, so-and-so told me I had six inches of base and then six inches of concrete, you get there and it's neither. You get there and it's unlevel. You just don't know what you're getting into. And a lot of these things are just double-checking processes on your end, saving yourself time and money tomorrow by doing a little bit of work today to be safer.

Todd:

Well, on the safety side of that, Jared, is um you know, the the less you have in control, the less you do control. Yeah, and if the foundation guy didn't put caps on his rebar, there's some hazards that subcontractors or others can create that um to them, they're gone, they're done, but they didn't stop the hazard of safety when the next one comes in. And so it really is that that uh community effort of safety is as Dave said, starting with just a conversation of are you gonna be safe or leave the job site safe when you're done for the next one to come in? And that's that whole mindset of uh why do I care? I'm gone. Well, you should care because you might have kept somebody from coming home to their family because you didn't consider safety as a priority for when you leave, not just while you're there working.

David:

Yeah, you know, I've had FBI does work with a fair number of uh general contractors that will do the the footing, uh, get the site prep done, things of that nature. And I know that I've even had foremen that have gone and approached like the site superintendent. Usually when we're working with large-scale general contractors, they'll have a site superintendent on site. And uh one of my foremen actually it was probably two or three weeks ago, called me uh, because I I tell him, like, if you see an unsafe condition or act, you have a responsibility to say something. I'm like, I don't care if it's one of our guys or another contractor on site, you have a responsibility to to bring it to the superintendent's attention. And he he called me and and uh said I went and and he went and talked to a superintendent about one of the other contractors, and he said he was quick out there. He goes, It's a little nerve-wracking as a as a subcontractor going and approaching uh a site superintendent, but I've always empowered all my guys to to to bring it up. And I always tell them if they feel like they're not being heard, then they can they can call me and uh we we've done as much as as uh pull off projects temporarily because we can't expose our our employees to unsafe conditions that other contractors are creating. Yep. Like we'll we'll come back after after you guys wrap up.

Jared:

I can tell you guys, we have gone a little bit over, we've taken enough of your time today on New Year's Eve. But I can tell you, man, we've got to have you guys back separately, together, whatever you guys want to do. We have to follow up after the trade expo. What I can tell you guys, if you have not started to consider how you're gonna get to Oklahoma City, you are missing out right now. You have got to get to Oklahoma City. I can tell you it's gonna be a beautiful and fun time with people in the industry that have your back that want to teach you something about how to do better business tomorrow. And like I said, I'm not immune from that, Eric's not immune from that, Todd and Dave are immune from that. We all can learn something today that will make us better tomorrow. Anyone got anything on the way out, man? I think that was great. It couldn't have been better.

David:

No, I uh appreciate all you guys are doing to help in the industry and uh excited to have future communications with you.

Jared:

I I love it, man. Eric, you got anything, brother?

Eric:

Yeah, man. Yeah, we'll celebrate tonight. I think it's gonna be a big year. Uh, we do have a booth space for the Steel Kings, but right next to it's the web company. If you're listening to this and you need to I'll walk you through for free. See what happens. Man, thank you. I'm wondering if my house has a the ridgeline system on it. I bet not, but it could not. It could. I live in a two-story Cape Cod. I'm like, I'm not going up there. I'm not going up there.

Jared:

I can tell you this. I can tell you this, guys. Big shout out for 2025. Thank you to Define SEO, Velocity360, Idea Room, Cal, J Money. Appreciate the time from HD Quality Builders, Todd, FBI Buildings, Dave, NFBA, all of our friends. Thank you guys for checking out the Steel Kings podcast this week. As always, get out in your communities and do something good for somebody else. It will make you feel so good. I promise. We'll talk at you guys soon, and we'll be back at you next week with another episode of Steel Kings Podcast. I'm Jared, he's Eric for Todd and Dave. We're out, guys. Very happy New Year. Happy New Year.

Outro:

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