Faces of the Diversion: Brandy Leon

Brandy Leon: [00:00:14] Hi, my name is Brandy Leon and I am a safety professional here at ASN Constructors. A safety professional is a person that works alongside everybody on the job site to make sure that they go home safe at the end of the day.

[00:00:25] A lot of the employees that come on site have not been introduced to this type of construction environment before, and as safety professionals we’re here to kind of guide those employees and show them of those particular dangers. Some of the particular dangers we have would be cranes lifting heavy loads overhead, working at heights, different types of tools that they use that they’re just not familiar with in this environment, and we’re here to guide and to alert them of potential issues or safety dangers that they come across.

[00:00:59] I really do enjoy being a safety professional. I enjoy the policies, the procedures, but I also enjoy interacting with employees and getting to know them and their stories, and making sure that they go home to those stories that they have. When you tell somebody what you do as a safety person or safety professional, they think that you’re the bad guy or the cop on site, but it really isn’t that, and so it’s nice to talk with them and discuss it with them so that they understand what we really truly do.

[00:01:32] Construction has been predominantly male-dominated, but in recent years it’s really expanded and a lot more women are coming into the field, so it doesn’t feel like it’s really male-dominated anymore. It’s a lot more accepting, and it’s been really nice to work alongside people that don’t care if I’m a female, they just want to make sure they go home.

[00:01:51] The stigma of construction and male-dominated fields has sometimes hindered women, and I would say go for it. It shouldn’t be a stigma anymore, and the more women that go into the field will make it so much easier for the next generation and the next generation to go in.

[00:02:11] The best parts of this job are the people, I’m not lying. It’s honestly the people out here. There’s such a variety of different people and thoughts and everything, and it’s just entertaining to talk with people and interact with them and get to know them to ensure that they do go home safe.