Meet Erick, One of NJ Crane Experts newest team members!
Receive an Education with Erick in English or Español!
Erick and Hans met years ago at a conference. Hans was there as a marketing speaker but Erick couldn’t get over the tall dude walking around with the go-pro on a stick. It turns out these two had plenty in common and eventually joined forces as NJ Crane expert trainers. It’s hard to express how excited we are to have Erick on the team as our bilingual instructor… but we’ll try! But first, a semi-brief (and super cool) history:
Erick was born in Houston, Texas, but spent his early years raised by his grandparents in Mexico. There, he grew up relatively off the grid on their ranch with no electricity and well water. Even though he was just a little boy, he worked the land by his grandparents’s side, and helped build their cabin. While he wasn’t in school, he received a better education than most his age. His grandparents led by example and taught him about hard work and discipline. They instilled a deep seeded sense of community and family. Through storytelling and demonstration they taught Erick to farm, hunt, and how to be self-sufficient. In short: he comes from a long line of hardworking badasses and survivalists who put family first. If the world ends, you can find us in Mexico hiding out on Erick’s grandparents’s farm.
At seven, Erick rejoined the “real” world and a traditional classroom setting where his curiosity, eagerness to learn, and fluency in English and Spanish set him apart from some of the other students. Eventually, his academic career brought him to South Texas College where he studied until 2003. Cut to: Erick joins the workforce.
Erick’s journey to where he is now was not a direct path. While he shares a love of the outdoors and safety protocols with his colleagues, he is not a second or third generation tree industry professional like some of our other esteemed trainers. This jack of all trades worked for a motorcycle dealership, was a personal trainer, and continued to work in agriculture before branching out into the tree scene. The common theme between all of his occupations was that whatever he did, it was pretty hands-on. That is, until the accident…
Are you on the edge of your seat yet? At 27 Erick got pinned by a truck in an accident that lost him his job and nearly lost his arm. Thankfully, he had an amazing doctor who advocated for him to keep it! After nearly a year of limited use and mobility of his arm, and being out of work for just as long, he knew he had to get moving and find something to pay the bills. Encouraged by family, he joined them on a job doing line clearance. Well, that’s what they did. While they removed trees from powerlines, Erick started at the bottom of the totem pole washing the trucks. It wasn’t a glamorous job, but Erick did it with a smile (if you’ve had the pleasure of meeting Erick, you’ll note that he’s usually smiling). One day fortune smiled back when another man didn’t show up for work, leaving a vacancy that Erick jumped to fill. Doing what? It didn’t matter. To Erick, anything was better than washing the trucks and he eagerly abandoned the hose to start pulling brush while learning on the job. And so began Erick’s rise to power. Over the years he continually established his value, and broadened his skills, which made him an indispensable asset to the company. As a result, Erick was given more responsibility and entrusted with supervisory roles, ultimately climbing the ranks from groundhand to Foreman.
Maybe you don’t realize, but this is like the tree industry equivalent of a rags to riches story! But it wasn’t the title changes or increased pay that fueled Erick’s ambition. Actually, it was his curiosity. One day, Erick was tasked to use one of the trucks on the job. As far as he knew, he’d been trained as much as anybody needed. That is, until he stumbled upon the safety manual under the seat. Forgetting about the job at hand, he became quickly engrossed in the material. “Did you know about this?” He asked a colleague who laughed and rolled his eyes in response.
There were times when Erick was asked to do jobs or perform tasks that felt unsafe to him, but the text now confirmed it. The manual helped shift Erick’s perspective and give his path new clarity. When asked to do something dangerous, many wouldn’t hesitate and would agree to do anything out of fear of retribution. They’d rather put themselves in danger than risk being fired. There was a time when Erick would have done the same. Now, like some kind of OSHA narc, he started asking tough questions, challenging his peers not to accept bad working conditions, and (respectfully) demanding that safety standards be prioritized and adhered to. He wanted to do the job quite literally by the book and he wanted to learn more about the right way to do things. As someone who had already survived one horrible accident in his lifetime, Erick decided that the only way he could willingly place himself in a risky working condition was to take safety measures and training into his own hands. He sought out opportunities for additional training and certifications but he didn’t stop there; he continued on to informally share his knowledge with coworkers, and later went on to professionally train and certify others. Since 80% of the tree industry is Hispanic or Latino, he also began teaching in Spanish. First, it was just translating documents and instructions. Later, it evolved to full training courses taught in Spanish.
Unfortunately, because minorities make up the majority of this unregulated industry’s workforce, Hispanic and Latino employees are routinely underpaid and asked to do dangerous jobs while their safety and wellbeing are disregarded. Employees are taken advantage of and accept the tacit agreement that if they say “no” to a job, someone else will say “yes” and replace them. Erick not only recognized the obvious flaws in the system, but he has spent recent years working to challenge the status quo and fight the injustices he has personally witnessed or experienced. He now serves as a member of the American National Standards Committee to make rules and regulations that help create better working conditions. He is proud to be a part of a movement that strives for improved treatment of employees as well as increased wages and more equal pay.
Erick feels incredibly lucky to be where he is when he recalls his more humble roots. He never imagined that a boy who was raised in rural Mexico, and started out in the tree business washing trucks could be a voice for change, and a respected industry and community leader. Erick knows firsthand the doors that education and training can open, and he wants to give back and hold the door open for others. A lifetime after leaving the farm in Mexico, Erick gets to teach the same way his grandparents taught him: through shared experiences, hands-on demonstrations, and storytelling. By providing accessible and affordable training in Spanish he wants to bridge the cultural and professional gap. Helping Hispanic and Latino employees obtain certifications will elevate their value to a potential or existing employer, and ensure they cannot be as easily marginalized and overlooked as cheap and disposable labor.
Still, regardless of background, nationality or heritage, Erick truly enjoys training ALL of his students; he recognizes that the certification is what differentiates a blue collar worker from a bonafide professional. Through training he seeks to better individuals and their families saying, “I want the guys to be proud of what they do, and I want their families to be proud of their accomplishments and success when they gain their crane certifications.” If having a certification isn’t enough for one to boast about, Erick also reminds us that the seemingly menial jobs within the tree industry are actually saving trees and creating a less hazardous and healthier environment. You know, just casually saving the world…
To be clear, we aren’t saving the world alone, nor do we want to take full credit! NJ Crane Expert is just one of many companies offering safety training and helping industry professionals and businesses reach their goals. We are proud to be part of an increasingly large network of highly motivated, educated and certified professionals. We can’t wait to see how Erick’s dedication to bilingual training changes the voice and the language of the industry!