12 Dec  Spearheading Excellence: Celebrating RPI’s Field Professionals

If there’s a tip of the spear in the remediation industry, the folks in the field are it. You sweat in summer; you freeze in the winter. Have you ever worked in the cold so long that your hands are icy and numb? When suddenly you strike your hand against something? The shockwave ripples through the frozen flesh. It’s like a tiny explosion of agony akin to hitting a funny bone but with a chilling twist. The experience is not for the faint of heart.

Have you ever worked in an inland South Carolina kind of heat? Humidity so thick that with a running start, you could climb it. Sweating is ineffectual in such an infinite sauna, where the air lays like a heavy, wet blanket on your skin. The foam clings to your body, making the thought of a shower an obsessive thought.

There is relief in the spring and fall. It is exhilarating to be out before the sun rises to see the daybreak and feel the beauty of the earth and sky. These are not desktop experiences.

We, the RPI Group Companies, are thankful for our field people. And despite cold heat and many other dangers, their care has given the RPI Group Companies an average experience modification rating of 0.64 over the past ten years. Our field people demonstrate a safety culture and care for one another and, ultimately – for you.

We spend some time discussing our products and processes in the Newsletter, but the people installing the products are the tip of the spear. Without them, we are nothing.

It would be too much for you to read if I named everyone, but I’d like to call out some individuals. Rob Boese at BB&A in Wilsonville, Oregon, has 33 years in the field, logging over 1,800 hours annually. That’s a lot of time and experience. He was involved in BB&A’s first BOS 200 injection in 2010 and, since that time, has participated in over 100 BOS 200 and BOS 100 injections. He loves his free time in the Caribbean, and with those field hours, it’s well-deserved time. Moving west to east, Matt Steere, with Alpine Remediation in Golden, Colorado, has over 20 years of experience. Matt was on the inaugural BOS crew back in 2002. From exhilarating skiing, ok, $^# scary skiing, in Grand Tetons to a little laid-back fishing, Matt knows how to enjoy his free time. Nick Romanow, Vertex Canada, eh. Nick mixes time in the field with building equipment like Vertex’s new BOS trailer. Beyond building and repairs, he manages about 1,000 hours in the field annually. He completed his first BOS injection in 2015. Nick is an avid outdoorsman, enjoying hunting and fishing. Earnest Hannah has been with AST Environmental in Midway, Kentucky, for eight years. Before joining AST, Earnest served in the U.S. Marine Corps and completed five tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. These days, he treasures time with his family. Give these guys a shout-out; they deserve it.

Over the years, our teams have hung together. We have an average of over 15 years of experience in the RPI Group field crews. The kind of experience that avoids problems while supporting problem-solving. Experience that anticipates yet rolls with the unanticipated.

Experience built on not just years but hours in the field. Boots on the ground and tooling in the earth hours. Even our project managers spend hours in the field annually so that they know what you need and the effort that goes into every job.

A company that does not retain its field people is a company that loses its culture, experience, and consistency. The average tenure with the RPI Group Companies in fieldwork is over ten years. And these are the years they’ll bring to your job. To the folks in the field – Thank You, and Happy Thanksgiving.

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