Silent Heroes

Andy Wood, a safety consultant and trainer for workers’ compensation insurer Maine Employers Mutual Insurance Co. (MEMIC), was recently awarded the prestigious 2004 H.H. Jefferson Memorial Safety Award by the Forest Resources Association, a national organization.

Wood, who has worked for MEMIC since 1993, specializes in training workers in the logging industry. He is a certified trainer in the Certified Logging Professional (CLP) program who has trained hundreds of woods workers in safer strategies for cutting trees.

He was awarded the H.H. Jefferson Award for the Northeast region in October 2003, in part due to his leadership in developing a new training program for workers who help cut brush in Maine’s North Woods.

This program, called the “Certified Silvicultural Worker” program focuses on the work of migrant workers, whose struggles became well known as a result of a tragic van accident, which took the life of 14 when a van overturned in September 2002.

The program addresses a broad range of safety issues faced by these treetimmers, many of whom work deep in the woods of Maine. Because many of the workers are Spanish-speaking, the training is offered in Spanish as well as English.

“Andy Wood is absolutely dedicated to the safety of workers in the woods in Maine,” said MEMIC President and CEO John Leonard. “He has spent more than a decade in the field teaching workers that there is a better, safer way to fell trees. We’re proud to see Andy be recognized by the industry but we’re prouder still to know that Andy Wood works for our company.”

“It was an honor to receive this award,” said Wood. “It is important to me because it recognizes MEMIC’s efforts to continue to raise the bar for the entire industry. We do this by not only working with our insureds but by reaching out beyond to all of those involved in the industry”

MEMIC, based in Portland, is Maine’s largest workers’ comp insurer with a growing profile across New England through MEMIC Indemnity Company, a subsidiary based in Manchester, N.H. The company has always made workplace safety the focus of its efforts and has not been shy about touting the contributions of people like Andy Wood.

This story of Andy Wood, MEMIC, and their kin is not told often enough. More than many CEOs, actuaries, underwriters and regulators, they represent this industry at its best. Theirs are the higher achievements that so often go unheralded, overlooked by the media and under-appreciated by customers.

The story of the Andy Woods of this industry is the story of insurance people dedicated not just to profit but to safety, preventing injuries and savings lives. They are everywhere in the industry, doing their jobs, without fanfare.