StoriesHow PeopleFirst Leadership Powers Growth at Ascend
Ascend brings Alpine’s PeopleFirst leadership to life, showing how people-first private equity can drive growth while preserving integrity.
At Alpine, people are our top priority, and safety is paramount to creating PeopleFirst workplaces.
Alpine’s engineering platform, Trilon, also recognizes the importance of having safe workplaces. To level-up their safety posture and develop a safety culture across Trilon’s partner businesses, the company hired Jacob Parker as director of environment, health and safety in 2024.
In the Field
Parker’s initial approach was to better understand the risks and hazards of the business by observing fieldwork firsthand. Intricate tasks such as geotechnical drilling are within Trilon’s purview, and he wanted to understand the processes already in place and the safety cultures across the organization. Parker compiled and reviewed historic accident data to pinpoint activities associated with repeat incidents. He then identified standards and procedures to reduce the likelihood of future safety events and improve worker safety.
Changing Conversations
In October 2024, Trilon rolled out its updated health and safety program, which includes event management and investigation, medical case management, event reporting, and performance metric tracking. A new third-party triage care provider, Axiom Medical, now offers live first-aid guidance for workplace injuries, providing immediate access to medical care while also reducing the occurrences of OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) recordable injuries.
Trilon team members also have access to new, easy-to-use reporting tools that effectively gather critical event information and kick off the investigative process—all with the intent to minimize or eliminate future harm and increase workplace safety.
Parker is focusing on keeping incidents and lost time below industry benchmarks and encouraging the reporting of “good catch” and “near miss” incidents as well as training completions—all leading indicators of safety performance. Priorities for 2025 include driver safety, expanded training, and recognition of positive health and safety contributions, all of which will continue to build on the programs and the cultural shift established in the initial rollout.
“I’m really encouraged,” says Parker. “The conversations have changed. There’s more discussion around corrective actions and root causes, and companies have asked us for help adding health and safety leaders to their own teams. That’s a win.”
Across Alpine: Health and Safety Roadmap
Alpine partnered with Trilon to develop guidance for companies across our portfolio. The resulting Health and Safety Roadmap was introduced in a webinar co-hosted by Parker and ESG Counsel Emilie Woolson. This customizable roadmap can be used to launch new health and safety programs at our platform companies, identify areas for improvement and benchmark programs against best practices.
Health and safety programs are a material ESG project for Alpine’s services portfolio companies. We expect our companies to identify potential hazards and OSHA requirements, establish health and safety policies, and measure and report relevant metrics. Companies in higher-risk industries are also encouraged to hire a dedicated safety lead.
“I’m really encouraged, the conversations have changed. There’s more discussion around corrective actions and root causes, and companies have asked us for help adding health and safety leaders to their own teams. That’s a win.”
Jacob Parker, Director Environmental Health & Safety, Trilon Group
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