Roco Rescue has been recognized with LWCC’s Safest 70 Award for 2022. Established in 2008, the award honors LWCC policyholders who exemplify the company’s commitment to workplace safety. Roco is proud to be recognized for fostering a culture of well-being in Louisiana’s workforce by establishing safe work environments. 

Recognized companies seek ways to proactively improve workplace safety and are also quick to react and respond when potential safety hazards are identified, often in partnership with LWCC’s Safety Services team.

“Our Safest 70 Awards provide an excellent opportunity to put a spotlight on policyholders who are actively committed to creating a safer workplace for all. In addition to benefitting their own employees and stakeholders, these companies’ efforts serve to inspire other policyholders, businesses, and industries in Louisiana and beyond,” stated Kristin W. Wall, LWCC’s president and CEO.

To learn more about this special recognition and other businesses across Louisiana that were recognized click here. 

Additional Resources

• Confined Space Entry Checklist
• Evaluating Your Rescue Service
• Safety Services

Inspect all CMC ProSwivel or Rock Exotica Omni-Block swivel pulleys immediately.

CMC and Rock Exotica, who makes CMC's ProSwivel pulleys, have both issued recall notices on their 1.1" swivel pulleys and SwivaBiner pulleys. The concern is surrounding the set screws that hold the button in. The button secures the side plate, so if the button comes out, the side plate could open and let the rope fall out - which could mean severe injury or death.

The recall only applies to the 1.1" versions manufactured from February 2020 through October 2022, however both manufacturers are recommending that all of these swivel pulleys be inspected.

If you have a pulley subject to the recall, return it to the manufacturer at no charge for inspection/repair. If you purchased your pulleys from Roco, we will be happy to assist you with the recall and inspection.

If you have 1.1" pulleys made outside of the recall window, or have other sizes of any date, you may inspect them yourself or return them for professional inspection.

1. 2018 to present
   1. There should be a dab of epoxy sealant that fills the set screw hole. It may be brownish/yellowish or a white/grey color.
   2. If the epoxy is missing, return the pulley for repair.
   3. If the sealant is protruding above the surface, determine the color. If it is white/grey, that's okay. If it is brownish/yellowish, return the pulley for repair.
2. 2016 and 2017
   1. There should be a dab of epoxy sealant like the current models have, but it will only be white/grey. It's okay if it is above the surface of the hole, but if it's missing, return the pulley for repair.
3. Prior to 2016
   1. No visible sealant was used on these models, so don't worry when you see the bare set screw. Just make sure the set screw is even with or below the surface.
   2. If you are not comfortable doing this inspection yourself, you can send your pulleys to the manufacturer or to Roco for inspection.
   3. You may want to add your own epoxy to these models to make your daily gear inspections easier. (see details in the inspection notices linked below)

Instructions for identifying your pulleys and locating the serial numbers are included in the manufacturer recall and safety notices. Be sure that you are using the proper notice for your pulley, as the CMC and Rock Exotica serial number locations are slightly different.

Manufacturers' Detailed Information

Note that CMC's and Roco's offices will be closed 12/23/22 through 1/2/23 and reopen Tuesday, January 3rd. However, if you have an urgent need during the holidays, you may reach CMC at info@cmcpro.com and Roco at 800-647-7626 (follow the prompts for emergency after-hours service).

Always remember to inspect your gear before each use. Stay safe, and Merry Christmas!

We are extremely excited to share that Roco Rescue recently received Entergy's Premier Vendor Award in the Safety category.

This award is sponsored by Entergy to recognize and promote extraordinary vendor performance. In seeking and sharing best practices, the award-winning company must have a profound and direct impact on improving the safety and reliability of the utility industry. And, we were in competition with some very large corporations.

To be eligible for the award, service and material providers who have contracted with Entergy during the award year (2021) must have achieved high levels of performance, implemented transferable new practices, or significantly improved processes in the areas of safety, diverse/local spend, sustainability, customer centricity, and continuous improvement.

Roco provides Entergy with many highly trained and skilled confined space rescue teams across Arkansas, Mississippi, and Louisiana. Additionally, Roco’s Safety Services Division now provides Entergy with highly trained and motivated Certified Occupational Safety Specialists to add another level of depth to safety on large-scale outages and turnarounds. Our Safety Specialists have been involved in overall outage planning, safety consulting and observations throughout the outage, and overall support for anything that Entergy needed during their large projects. This year, Roco had the pleasure of providing oversite for two outages, including one major outage in Mississippi.

Additional Resources

• Confined Space Entry Checklist
• Evaluating Your Rescue Service
• Safety Services

Lexington, MA: ConstructSecure, Inc., a cloud-based mobile platform that empowers clients to make smarter risk management decisions, has announced the recipients of its prestigious safety awards. Roco Rescue Inc. has received the Platinum Safety Award. This award is presented to companies that register a safety score 95% or greater in the Safety Assessment Program administered by ConstructSecure.

“Platinum status is not easily achieved. Roco Rescue Inc. has demonstrated a remarkable commitment to implementing safety management systems resulting in exceptionally low incident rates,” states Garrett Burke, CEO of ConstructSecure.

(View Official Press Release: View PDF)

The Safety Assessment Program reviewed Roco Rescue's historic safety performance as well as our safety management program and systems. As an OSHA VPP Star worksite, Roco Rescue incorporates safety into everything we do.

Additional Resources

• Safety Improvement Cycle (pictured here)
• Confined Space Entry Checklist
• Evaluating Your Rescue Service
• Is OSHA VPP a Good Fit for Your Company?

Well folks, after over forty years of working full time in the technical rescue field – twenty plus years as an Air Force PJ, and almost another twenty with Roco Rescue – I am hanging up my rescue harness for good.  It is not that it is worn out, and in fact it is in pretty good shape, as it hasn’t seen much action in the last few years. It is more that I want to get out and play full time before I am totally worn out.  So I am retiring. 

I want to take this opportunity to say “Thank You” to all of the folks that I have had the honor to work alongside, learn from, teach, and collaborate with on various projects.  I can say without any hesitation, and with deep humility, that I am a different and much better person than I was forty one years ago.  

That is largely due to the folks that I have been surrounded with in that time.  They nudged me, and at times that nudge was pretty solid, in the right direction. Because of the nature of rescuers in general, some of your best human qualities were bound to rub off on me.  And for that, I thank you. 

I don’t want to single out any individuals for particular thanks, because this article would go on forever if I started down that road.  But I do want to say thank you to my supervisors, managers, and company leaders that I have been blessed to have guide, mentor, and support me.  This holds true for my time in the Air Force as well as with Roco.  My Non-Commissioned Officers in Charge (NCOICs) during my time as a PJ were the best I could have hoped for.  And the same holds true for the President, VP, and other managers at Roco.  They each had, and have their own unique, and to me, highly desirable styles of leadership.  They all impressed upon me the value of setting clear and meaningful expectations, leading from the front by putting in the work and effort to demonstrate their own self accountability, but most importantly, they have all been very fair.  

To my teammates as a PJ, as a Roco CSRT Member, and Instructor:  I have been surrounded by a herd of type A go getters for forty years, and to say that was never a challenge, would be a flat out lie.  But I have enjoyed that challenge as it kept me on my toes and honest.  There was never any room for BS or taking shortcuts, because I knew I would be called out on it.  That really helps one develop good habits and to avoid the bad ones.   I have learned so much from my teammates that it astounds me to just stop and think of all the ideas and efforts to make things better that we have worked on together. 

I also want to thank the support staff that have put in so much time, effort, and dedication that goes on behind the scenes.  Without the support of our training coordinators, equipment managers, payroll, schedulers, facility managers, operations mangers, sales, general admin, human resources, and so many others, we couldn’t possibly do what we do. 

Finally, I want to thank our customers, both our students and our CSRT clients.  At Roco Rescue we try to provide the best courses of instruction, as well as the most professional CSRT services we can.  This includes listening to what our customers have to say, both good and sometimes not so much.  I can’t tell you how much our services have improved over the years based on feedback from our customers.  We have had so many characters as customers that my catalog of funny stories is volumes deep.   For that alone, this has been a very rewarding career. 

So as I rappel off into the sunset, I bid you farewell, be safe, and remember that the path you have chosen is a noble and very rewarding one.  Walk down that path with pride, dedication, and with the knowledge that your efforts in being the best rescuer you can be, will ultimately give those that need you in an emergency, that chance to live out their own dreams.   

Until we meet again, you can find me sailing on Lake Champlain, mountain biking some gnar in New England, exploring with my lovely wife and our dog, gathering mushrooms or seeking the perfect sunset and doing some community volunteerism. 

In other words, I ain’t dead yet. 

Pat Furr