OSR Safety Spotlight with Lydia
At O’Hara’s Son Roofing (OSR), safety is built on strong relationships, thoughtful planning, and a commitment to helping others succeed. Lydia Bryant, our Safety Coordinator, brings all of those qualities to her role every day.
With a background in human services, Lydia has spent the last three years helping build and strengthen OSR’s safety programs from the ground up. When she is not supporting our field teams, she enjoys spending time outdoors with her family, including her husband, Ben, and their two young children, Walter and Juliet.
Lydia’s approach to safety is simple: plan ahead, understand the hazards, and communicate with your team. Through training, engagement, and support, she helps ensure our crews have the knowledge and resources they need to work safely every day.
Get to know Lydia in this edition of Safety Spotlight.
In one sentence, how would you describe your approach to safety?
Plan your work ahead, understand the hazards, and communicate with your team.
Safety doesn’t start when you arrive on the job site. It starts during the planning phase. Planning ahead means making sure you have the right tools, PPE, and a clear sequence of operations before any crew member lifts a finger.
You cannot avoid a hazard you don’t see. Understanding hazards is critical to the work we do at OSR. It requires continuous education, situational awareness, and a healthy respect for the environment you’re working in.
A safety plan only works if your team understands it. Open communication helps ensure everyone is on the same page, feels comfortable speaking up, and looks out for one another.
When it comes to critical safety decisions, what is one situation every worker should know how to handle correctly?
Fall prevention activities.
Falls remain one of the most common and serious risks we encounter during our work at OSR. Every worker should understand how and when to inspect their gear, how to properly use barriers and active tie-off points, and how to identify and eliminate fall hazards before work begins.
What does an effective and engaging safety training look like to you?
An effective and engaging safety training provides relevant, up-to-date information and allows participants to actively engage throughout the process. Team members should be encouraged to ask questions and connect the information to real-life situations before they encounter a hazardous scenario in the field.
In a high-pressure or unexpected situation, what is the first thing you focus on to keep everyone safe?
Stop. Assess. Act.
Stop and breathe. Secure the scene by removing immediate hazards and finding a partner to help.
Assess the situation. Check for injuries, call for help, and identify any unknown risks.
Take action by administering first aid or contacting emergency medical professionals.
Emergencies often happen without warning and can be incredibly difficult to manage. Remember that no one handles chaos perfectly the first time. Give yourself some grace if your initial reaction is not flawless.
For more information on fall protection and construction safety best practices:
To learn more about OSR’s commitment to safety, visit O’Hara’s Son Roofing Safety Program.
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