Meet our newest Safety Engineer, Jonathan Heisey! Jonathan grew up in Elizabethtown, PA and is a recent graduate of Millersville University. In his free time, Jonathan enjoys saltwater and ice fishing and hunting deer and waterfowl. Recently completing our internship program at Warfel, Jonathan shares his experience as an intern followed by accepting a full-time position as a Safety Engineer:
Q: What inspired you to pursue your career?
A: After working with a few construction contractors throughout high school and college as a Carpenter, I realized the importance of safety in the construction industry. I have family friends who went to Millersville for the same degree I have, and their feedback and experiences helped steer me in this direction. After a few internships, I knew I made the right choice.
Q: What skills did you learn during your internship that helped prepare you for your current position?
A: I think the internship experience helped me learn the things you do not learn in the classroom. There are always different scenarios that will come up when you are on a job site. I am still learning, but I gained a lot of experience in how to deal with a variety of situations. The different skills I learned include communication, working with a variety of people, organization, and how to effectively utilize our software programs.
Q: What is your proudest professional achievement or success story so far?
A: One time, I walked up to an unsafe situation on a job site. I talked through the situation with the employees and was able to come up with a safe solution for them to continue working. Afterward, one of the employees came up to me and expressed how grateful they were that the situation was fixed. They said they felt unsafe but did not know how to correct the situation. This made me proud that I could make a difference.
Q: What is your dream project?
A: I enjoy big projects and learning new things, so my dream project would be to work on a large project that has multiple things going on like large scaffold setups, big excavations, and cranes.
Q: Do you have a career goal you would like to accomplish in the next two years? The next five years?
A: Now that I have graduated, I recently received my GSP certification. Within the next two years, I would like to get my CHST certification. In the next 5 years, I would like to get my CSP certification.
Q: Share a piece of advice for other students considering the construction industry as a career path.
A: Have an open mind and soak up as much information as possible. Ignore the stereotypes because they are not true. There are a lot of knowledgeable/skilled people in the industry. It may be intimidating at first with a lot of new construction vocabulary you do not understand but do not be afraid to ask questions.
Q: If you could have any superpower for a day, what would it be and why?
A: I would have to say the ability to fly. It would be cool to fly around PA and visit job sites instead of driving.
