My Biz: Retired firefighter teaches workplace safety

When it comes to workplace safety, Michael Mulherin says the details add up.

“The one thing I thoroughly enjoy is building evacuation routes and intentionally throwing in a boomerang or a curveball instead of the same thing again,” Mulherin said one recent morning.

“You can’t depend on going to the old oak tree in the northeast corner of the parking lot if there’s a vapor cloud that’s going toward that oak tree,” he said. “You have to look at the whole picture.”

Seeking to deliver big-picture workplace safety lessons led Mulherin, 67, of rural North Liberty, to launch Informmics in 2020, four years after retiring as a captain after more than 30 years with the Cedar Rapids Fire Department.

“I always wanted to do comprehensive workplace safety training,” he said.

Mulherin tailors his lessons to a client’s workplace, working off six basic subject areas: hazard communications, emergency action plans, leadership, hazardous energy control, fire safety and evacuation drills.

“Every one of them has importance for different segments of my clients,” he said. “Informmics is designed to be customized.

“I walk around: Does this business have sprinklers? Do employees know where the fire extinguishers are and, importantly, do they know how to use them?

“Sometimes they want a hybrid (lesson), and they want to pick and choose what’s appropriate. As long as we’re on the same page, I will not step on anyone’s policies or standard operating procedure.”

Using AR

Mulherin recently began adding augmented reality (AR) to his lesson planning. Unlike virtual reality, which requires a student to wear a headset, AR uses the workplace setting.

Mulherin can place a tablet computer that interfaces with a nearby fire extinguisher, then sets QR codes on such nearby potential hazards as a stack of pallets or boxes, a circuit breaker or stored flammable liquids.

When a simulated fire breaks out on the tablet, the trainee uses it to react.

“If they see a fire, they have to choose which of the seven extinguishers to use,” he said. “Aim at the (fire’s) base. You can train people inside and outside. The training is environmentally friendly — you don’t have to use up the contents of the extinguisher.

“I enjoy keeping up with the technology.”

Annual training

Annual safety briefings are required for many workplaces by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration and many insurance companies.

“New-hire people have to have an indoctrination with it before they hit the production floor,” Mulherin said. “If somebody else drops the ball, chances are the inadequately trained person is the one that gets injured.”

Mulherin isn’t an OSHA-certified instructor, but he helps clients comply with the agency’s standards.

“You have to look at the full picture,” he said. “Hypothetically, you have a fire in this area. Where is it likely to go to? By the time you dash and get a fire extinguisher and come back, what is it going to look like?

“Maybe your best mode of operation would be to yell to one of your coworkers, ‘We have an active fire,’ and instruct that second person to also grab an extinguisher. I give them insights from a firefighters’ perspective — when not to use that extinguisher when your point of egress is going to be compromised. So many things come into play.”

Mulherin said he’s found a ready audience for his holistic approach across the eastern third of Iowa.

“A lot of it was word-of-mouth,” he said. “A lot of people passed along what I did, and they encouraged me. I appreciate the encouragement. It’s energizing. Initially, I wanted to pretty much keep in the Corridor, but I find myself traveling.”

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