Name: Troy A. Bonar
Company Name: Buffalo Gap Instrumentation & Electrical Co., Inc.
City: Buffalo Gap, TX
Number of Employees: 468

Nomination Essay:

Buffalo Gap Instrumentation & Electrical Co, Inc. would like to nominate our Safety Training Manager Troy Bonar. Troy has accomplished more in his time with our company than we had accomplished since our beginning 22 years ago. In the last 3 years Buffalo Gap I & E has gone from 89 employees to 468. Troy's "Safety Professionals Training Program" has significantly reduced our incident rates, reduced our turnover rates, and instilled pride in the company and company safety culture. Most companies with the boom in employment for our industry saw an increase in incidents but with Troy's creative 'hands on approach' to safety Buffalo Gap I & E actually improved the safety culture and has achieved a never before milestone of 2.5 million hours worked without lost time incident. This achievement was u nheard of before he implemented his "Safety Professionals Program."

"Every Employee is a Safety Professional" has been Troy's motto. He believes that Safety Personnel should not be in the 'Babysitting Business', they should be in the education and coaching business. The precept of his program is that safety is part of the job requirements. The safety department's job is to give them the knowledge and tools needed to keep within their professional job requirements. Technical occupations require continuing education and recertification to sustain professional status and increase skills, Safety knowledge must also be continuously acquired through training and seminars.
BGIE employees have changed their involvement with safety programs because of this philosophy. Many of Buffalo Gap I & E employees have taken Safety Positions within the company and also pursued the Safety field outside of the company due to the inspiration and knowledge Troy's program has given them.

Troy Bonar includes innovative training of all employees to a supervisory level of Safety knowledge. His belief in equal training for all employees has significantly impacted incident rates and enhanced proper reporting of near miss and other incidents.

Part of his training includes a hands on Safety Assistant Program in which employees rotate as a safety assistant for various periods of time. Participation in this program has increased employee understanding of safety compliance and hazard recognition. This program also prepares individuals for leadership positions as they will already be familiar with documentation requirements and communication practices. Participants have been volunteering for this program and we actually have a waiting list. Employees do not receive any additional compensation for this program but receive a completion certificate and recognition company wide in the SAFETY SHOCKER our specially designed field safety bulletin.

Our management has given full support to the innovative ideas and concepts of the safety program, cautious at first by the new concepts in safety management and communication; they quickly realized the benefits and saw the significant change occur within a short period of time.

Troy's open and honest ways of communicating with all levels of employees and clients has increased employee professionalism and awareness, his ability to assist any employee with safety and health issues at any level has made our employees feel comfortable communicating and willing to take responsibility for themselves and each other.

In the last year Troy Bonar also developed an interactive safety orientation program which has significantly impacted new hire safety in our remote locations. The program mixes Video, Voice and Text interaction to assist employees with basic safety knowledge which is the foundation of safety success. Troy made sure that hundreds of employees participated in its development and this created more interest from employees and granted them pride in their accomplishment.

Overall, employees of our company have made safety a quest, looking for hazards and eliminating them as if to vanquish a foe waiting to strike. They thirst for more knowledge and look forward to safety meetings and training sessions. Employees look forward to visiting with safety personnel who are on site and initiate policy conversations regularly. Our company is grateful for the programs that Troy Bonar has brought to Buffalo Gap I & E and the influence he has had on client and customer relations.

We hope that you would choose Troy Bonar or Buffalo Gap Instrumentation & Electrical Co, Inc. for the Saxcie's Program or Trainer of the Year Award. He has definitely developed a program that is sustainable and produces real results across the board.