Your story left me in tears but also filled me with hope.  I am an attendee at the Grainger 2022 show and also brought my 18 year old son with me who is an aspiring electrician.  He just started an apprenticeship last month where he goes to a vocational school one week and is on an actual job site the next week.  He talks about how great it is going to be, he has a pep in his step now like we have never seen.  Very passionate about doing this, on the job site at 5:45am when his start time is 6am.  Much like yourself.

Your story hit home hard.  I’m glad he was there to hear you.  It was eye opening.  I wish nothing but the best for you and your beautiful family in the future and safety for them in the future.  I plan on sharing my experience with my colleagues at work but would also like to make sure that him and some of his co-workers, young students and friends could watch your presentation…

Never in my 38-years of “work life” have I had the privilege of hearing a story as powerful as yours. From start to finish, your experience has humanized the challenges, pitfalls, horror, anger, sadness, determination, spirit, support, and sheer determination of what an individual, and by extension their family, friends, and colleagues go through when failure to follow safety procedures has not been followed. You could have given up, you could have ended your life, you could have wallowed in self-pity. But you ultimately chose to live. Not only that, you were given the opportunity, and a challenge, I think, to take a horrific personal experience and turn it into an opportunity to help others. Your selfless gift, and believe me, that is a gift, will no doubt have saved the lives of many people.

I commend your willingness to share your experience over and over again with the hope that through your life experience you might save others from having to live through the gut-wrenching and painful experience you did.

I have worked for 30-years in the legal department of a global wire and cable manufacturing company. Part of my job is defending the company in products liability and wrongful death cases, as well as assisting our EH&S teams with internal investigations when accidents occur in our plants, on job sites, or end locations where our products may have contributed to a loss or death.. By the very nature of my profession, I must maintain a level of professionalism and businesslike approach in defending my company. There is an expectation that one has to set aside personal emotions to work a case from start to finish. It’s a difficult balance. Your story today left me in tears. But more important, it reminded me that human life is THE most important factor in all that I, my colleagues, and all of us do day-in and day-out.

Thank you for your courage. Thank you for your willingness to help others by sharing the consequences of your mistake so that they may avoid making one in their lives.