Nick Martin Exemplifies Employee Safety

Nick Martin Exemplifies Employee Safety

By: Brandon Patterson |
Account Manager

Pipeline Locator Nicholas Martin works for Danos customer Oxy in Odessa. He has been with us since September 2020 and is a great team player who loves working for Danos. Nick frequently calls or texts to find out if he can do anything to help. He is active in working safe and making sure others around him are working safe as well.

Nick recently instituted stop work authority (SWA) that may have saved lives, property and Oxy product. This use of SWA is the very example of what we teach and expect from our employees. Read the SWA from Nick’s submission below…

“After receiving a one-call for pipeline maintenance, I drove to the location on the ticket. Upon arrival I was immediately alarmed to find a crew on site, hand digging with a running backhoe present, even though the ticket was not clear for excavation for another 24 hours. I knew Oxy had pipeline assets within 100 feet of the location that I had not yet marked because the ticket was not yet due.

I parked my truck at a safe distance north of the hazard area, honked my horn and made eye contact with the crew working at the location. I donned my PPE and moved quickly toward the crew as I waved my arms yelling, ‘Stop!’ The crew cut the power to the backhoe, dropped their shovels and looked confused. I tried my best to remain calm and keep my tone at a respectful level as I told them they could not dig until 8:45 a.m. the next morning.

While hydro/hand digging under 16 inches is more acceptable by Texas 811, you may not have a running mechanical excavator on-site prior to the ticket clearing the 48-hour waiting period. As I explained this, they expressed they could not speak English. I called my wife who is fluent in Spanish and put her on speaker to repeat my demands to shut down all digging, or I would have to report to Oxy their crew was recklessly endangering people and assets on the lease. Once the language barrier was hurdled, the shut-down and stop work exercise went well. I documented the encounter, the company name, the location and the time. I then proceeded to mark the one-call and notify other company locators that this crew was not abiding by 811 dig Texas standards, so they could be on the lookout as well."

When speaking about the event at Danos’ weekly safety call, Nick said, “I’m confident in my relationship with Brandon Patterson, and I’m confident that he would support me if I told him I was worried about loss of property or life, even if I ended up being wrong about the situation. Danos is the best place I’ve ever worked, and the confidence in management breeds confidence in the field.”

Thank you, Nick, for modeling the way in safety!

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