MRO Today - Martinez stands up for safety

Martinez stands up for safety

By Paul V. Arnold

Tony Martinez III is a perfect example of how the individual hourly employee makes a difference at Intel Corporation.

Martinez, an 18-year Intel veteran and an electrical engineering technician at the company’s manufacturing operations in Chandler, Ariz., actively participates in his plant’s workplace safety initiatives.

He is a member of the employee-sponsored safety core team, which oversees the agendas and progress of all individual Intel Arizona employee-sponsored safety teams (ESSTs). These include teams focused on communications, marketing, projects and traffic safety.

Also chief among the core team’s duties is to regularly schedule safety update meetings, in which outside speakers are invited to lecture Intel employees on safety topics ranging from ergonomics and emergency response to heat stress and home safety.

Martinez is also a member of the projects ESST, which aims to instill safe work practices for those involved with projects such as site construction.

Since Martinez was a journeyman electrician for a construction company for 10 years before joining Intel, providing safety information to such workers is a task that’s near and dear to his heart.

“With my past experience, I thought I would be able to provide more value by assisting in this area,” he says.

Before Martinez volunteered to be a projects team and core team member, he spent four years as the leader of the plant’s emergency response team.

Martinez says it’s not difficult to explain his involvement with Intel safety initiatives. He frankly states that it’s important on a plant and personal level.

“People make the difference in this company,” he says. “Their interest to come to work, make a good living and be able to make it home to their families is important.

“I’ve personally been involved in situations where some things could have happened differently. Especially in the field that I work in, you can’t let your guard down. The minute that I start taking my livelihood for granted, as far as what I do and how I do it, is probably when something is going to happen.”