Industry news — Family and safety comes before business

At Ranger, when we say we’re a family business, we don’t just mean we’re family-owned and people with the same surname come to work here. We’re proud that’s the case, but what we really mean by it is that family comes before business. Not just our family or the extended Ranger community, but every one of our existing and prospective customers and their partners, husbands, wives, children and relatives. That’s why we take safety so seriously.

What do you do if you see a family member—young or old—putting themselves in harm’s way?

You don’t stand back, watch and wait for them to get hurt; you step in and remove them from danger. This is especially true where those in our own households are concerned. We hold those who live with us dearest of all; we say goodbye to them every morning and ask how their days were when we sit down to dinner. Yet, too many people risk leaving an empty seat at that table, and those of their colleagues, by working and using lifting equipment irresponsibly.

When Ranger’s testing and inspection team visit a job site, our priority is making sure the cranes, lifting and rigging gear there is in good enough condition that everyone using it and working in the area can go safely home to their families that night. We don’t remove slings from service to sell the contractor a new one; we do it so it doesn’t break under load and crush a young construction worker expecting his first child. We don’t conduct safety talks to waste our breath or delay the next critical lift; we do it so everyone arrives back on the job the following morning with life and limb intact.

We’re in the process of producing a new Testing and Inspection Guide to help our clients understand the requirements for testing and inspections and ensure get home to the ones they love after every shift. We don’t want anybody to be responsible for an empty chair at a family dinner table.