Seymour Emphasizes Culture of Safety at EquipmentShare

Dennis Seymour spent much of his 32-year U.S. Army career as an Apache helicopter pilot and safety officer. That included a 15-month deployment to Iraq in 2007-08 when he regularly flew missions providing cover for ground troops. He and his fellow pilots routinely drew enemy fire, and on one particularly harrowing flight, he saw three men open the trunk of their car, pull out a missile launcher and take aim at his helicopter. The missile missed and exploded about 500 meters away.

Considering the daily danger, it was a tremendous accomplishment for his aviation brigade to take no casualties during the deployment.

“We were the first aviation brigade that deployed and did combat operations for 15 months and brought everyone we went in with back home safely,” Seymour said. “That’s after the war had been going on for six or seven years, so one of the things I take the most pride in was being part of the leadership team that was able to bring more than 4,500 people in our task force back home in one piece. That was a big deal.”

After retiring from the Army in 2012 with the rank of chief warrant officer 5, Seymour, who is a scratch golfer, considered trying to make a go of it on the PGA’s senior tour. But he ultimately opted for the more secure career of safety management. He's been EquipmentShare’s director of safety since March 2024. 

While there are obvious differences between safety planning for a war zone versus a rental yard, the idea of creating systems that give everyone the best chance of getting home safely still applies.

“I tell my team to wake up every day and think about what you’ll do today to make a difference, and in our world, that’s making sure everybody’s safe,” Seymour said. “The hardest thing in the safety arena is creating a culture where people think of themselves as their brother’s keeper and their sister’s keeper, where you look out for each other.” 

Changing a company’s safety scores requires a commitment to a safety-first culture. At EquipmentShare, Seymour emphasizes four key points:

1. Education/training.
2. Injury management/case management.
3. Reducing the number of injuries.
4. Risk management. 

“Adopt a proactive mindset toward safety by empowering employees to stop work when necessary, report safety observations without fear of retaliation and prioritize not only their own safety but also the safety of those around them,” Seymour said. “To truly make a difference, we must transform our safety culture to one of empowerment.

“The biggest thing I want our people to know is we’re here to help you. We’re on the same team. Our job is to support you as an employee to make sure you get home safely to your family.”