Crane and Hoist Safety

Steve started his career in St. Charles, Missouri working for his father’s swimming pool store at the young age of 9, stocking shelves with chemicals. Seeing the violent reaction when he mixed large quantities of pH+ and pH- together in a demonstration spa, he knew he needed to protect people from hazards like these.While in the Criminology and Criminal Justice program at the University of Missouri - St. Louis, Steve became a statistics teaching assistant, and later, he ran the Drug Use Forcecasting (now ADAM) program inside local jails. Steve was the first undergraduate student to hold an internship with the Missouri Department of Public Defenders for Capital Litigation.In 1998, Steve moved to Omaha, Nebraska and worked in the claims department at Mutual of Omaha and later as the Corporate Safety Director.Gaining an understanding of the claims operations, Steve was asked to assist in a startup known as The Alliance Group, Inc. - a professional employer organization. It was here that Steve cemented his career in risk management and risk control.Steve became responsible for worker’s compensation, human resources and safety for 150 high hazard companies, such as nuculear power plant cleaning companies, ammunition manufacturers, chemical manufacturers, recycling plants and many others.From this experience, Steve obtained his Professional in Human Resources (PHR) designation in 2001.In 2003, Steve moved to California, where he became the Corporate Safety Manager for Countrywide.He designed data systems and oversaw all of the safety operations for the United States.After living the corporate life, Steve dedicated his work to the public sector as the Principal Risk Services Consultant for the second largest Joint Powers Authority in the United States. He oversaw the Loss Control Departmentfor 140+ school districts, handling everything from safety audits, security audits, emergency prep audits, ergonomics, industrial hygiene to OSHA inspections.Steve is now the CEO of Wilmes, LLC Risk Control Services, serving schools, cities and JPA”s across the State of California. Steve is the author of four books focusing on risk and wellness - “The Big Book of Answers for School Risk Managers”, “Less Than One”, “Risk Management Principles for Principals” and his hit book 300ND Fitness and a prodcuer of countless training videos.Steve holds a B.S. in Criminology & Criminal Justice, is an Associate in Risk Management for Public Entities, a Registered Safety & Security Professional, Certified Playground Safety Inspector and a Professional in Human Resources. Steve is a Master-level student of Krav Maga and Muay Thia, Thai training and sparing with Navy Seals, Army Rangers and other special forces operatives. He has hiked all over the world including: the jungles of Costa Rica and the Aples of Switzerland He has surfed the waters of Mexico, Hawaii and Costa Rica. And here’s a few other testaments to Steve’s isk taking abilities: he has skydived from 14,000 feet, rappeled out of helicopters, survived four knife attacks, three point-blank range gun attacks, a 14-car and 5-car pile up, a broken neck while mountain biking and being run over by a car. He has administered first-aid to the injured more than a dozen times, rescued babies from crushed cars.