Lampman – Carson Safety Services Ltd. is going on its fourth year since taking over operations. “We really haven’t looked back,” Troye Carson, owner, said on March 17.
Two years ago, he was looking at getting into new product lines, and indeed, they have. “We’ve become an authorized service and sales centre for Scott 3M Safety, which is big. I’ve been trying to get these lines for a long time.
“You really see, being an authorized service centre, we can save the client, doing it in-house. We do the repairs here. Before, the closest would be in Regina,” he said.
Carson Safety runs a lot of Scott equipment, with nine air trailers available, as well as rental equipment.
“This can save the client a lot of downtime and a few bucks. Freight isn’t cheap, by the time you send it there and back, or drive it up.”
The Scott 3M Safety line was added about 18 months ago.
“The last two years, we’ve been steady. Service and sales, turnarounds, we’ve been busy. We’ve had our slower months in December and January. We normally see, when road bans start to hit, drilling rigs, service rigs, bringing in their air equipment and fire extinguishers for their annual service. But we’ve been getting a few calls that things may be put on hold, because they don’t know when they’re going back to work,” he said. “You deal with it, and you hope.
“Everyone just doesn’t know what to expect, with the price of oil in the dumps, and this COVID-19.”
“There’s going to be people impacted about this, no doubt about it. But business has been steady. Can’t complain. We’ve had good support from our clientele. You do see your slowdowns and people watching their pennies. Budget cuts affect everyone. I like to think there’s work there.
“Right now, we’re going around to a few oil companies and doing safety site services where we service their fire extinguishers, first aid, eye wash, hearing protection, burn kits, do sound level checks. We pick up their air equipment and bring it here for testing,” he said.
“We try to get them on a schedule, in March and April, in road bans.”
The early road ban this year didn’t affect them, but they did see some equipment come in a bit sooner.
“We’re an authorized service centre for Industrial Scientific. It’s a new line we took on in the last couple years,” he said. That includes personal gas monitors and “pylon,” stationary monitors which actually look something like an orange highway pylon.”
When another supplier moved out of the area, they jumped on the opportunity to carry Industrial Scientific and 3M Safety.
The have other models of air quality monitors as well.
“During the slowdown it gives us time to thoroughly go through our air trailers, have our SABAs and SCBAs recertified, all your air lines leak tested, first aid, fire extinguishers, fall arrest. We go through the trailers, wiring, all that.”
Carson Safety works hand-in-hand with local H2S Alive instructors in the region. “We can help them out with their air equipment, and certify it
A load of fire extinguishers showed up that day, ready for service.
They also sell safety equipment like coveralls, respirators, gloves, glasses, hearing protection, first aid and eyewash.
Every year they recertify their flow benches and fit test machines. Samples are taken twice a year from the breathing air compressor.
Carson Safety has six full-time people and one part-timer. That was a gain of one full-timer in the past year. Contractors are brought in to run air trailers when they get busy.
With regards to the global crisis of COVID-19, he said, “For us, it’s business as usual, but we’re going to see it slow. My guys have been told if you feel any symptoms, stay home. Get better. And we know its flu season.”
They are disinfecting their machines several times a day.
“If it comes to it, we will shut down, if we have to, but as of right now, we don’t see a need to,” Carson said.
Air pack, fresh breathing air is critical for the ongoing operation of the oilpatch. And the oilpatch is critical for the country.
While things are slow now, pent up demand could eventually mean a rush. “We do what we can,” he said.
“I’ve learned a lot over the years, working with my father, Ron Carson, how to get through slowdowns. I learned a lot, over the years, managing through Carson Energy,” he said.
“The waiting game now is you wait and see,” Carson said. “I think we’re in for the long haul.”
