During storm restoration in Houston, Texas following July’s Hurricane Beryl, two SEC crews were put to the ultimate test when a crew member suddenly lost consciousness and began seizing. When they couldn’t detect a heartbeat or pulse, fellow crew members jumped into action. Per their training and emergency action plan, the crew foreman immediately called 911 while another crew member, a recently hired apprentice, began administering CPR. When that wasn’t working, the company-issued automated external defibrillator (AED) was utilized to administer two rounds of electric shocks to the victim. It was then that he took a breath and began to regain consciousness, and the crew members waited at his side until the ambulance arrived.
“This is a prime example of perfectly executing an emergency plan under extreme duress,” said Donovan Guilbeau, Director of Human and Organizational Performance for SEC. “These men are heroes. They saved their brother that day.”
Mitchell Swain, Kendall Droweingo, Ethan Bennett, Chance Marsh, Jackie Babb, Austin Greenfield and Kaiden Osbourn have all been named Power Players for August in recognition of their quick action and courage under pressure. A Power Player is someone with integrity and high moral standards, possessing strong leadership qualities, a track record of safe production, and dedication to our company and industry, who is hard-working and represents SEC well in everything that they do, allowing SEC to Power Forward. And these 7 men are the epitome of Power Players.
It should also be noted that these two crews aren’t used to working together. Actually, they live and work a thousand miles apart, one in Oklahoma and the other in Georgia. Brought together for storm restoration, and in the face of an emergency, they worked together seamlessly.
“These gentlemen are true heroes,” says SEC Superintendent Greg Mullins. “Their swift action and the effective use of the AED were vital in saving this man’s life. The dedication to safety training by SEC is truly commendable and clearly made a significant difference in this critical situation,” he adds. “This incident underscores the importance of being prepared and working together as a team.”
SEC places an emphasis on safe, quality production and ensuring all team members make it home safely day in and day out. Within the last year, AED’s have been added to every SEC crew along with mandatory training on the device. Obviously, that decision has already shown to be invaluable.
After the incident, it was determined that the victim had an underlying health condition and has since made a full recovery. If not for the actions of these SEC heroes, the outcome likely would have been entirely different.
