Sal Griffith keeps a constant eye out for safety issues. When contractors couldn’t complete EPA-required remediation, he jumped in and did some of the tasks himself. When a leaking container was discovered, he opened it with the consignee to make sure there was no hazardous substance involved.
To ensure the safety of equipment operators, he schedules regular repaving of port surfaces. In short, he maintains a commitment to safety that’s critical to the port’s success.
Talk to any Saltchuk Safety Award winner, and they’ll tell you: ensuring that everyone makes it home safely every day is everyone’s responsibility. Each year, Safety Award nominations come from across the Saltchuk family of companies, highlighting employees who go the extra mile for safety. We asked each of the dozen 2024 awardees to tell us something about themselves and why they like to play it safe on the job.
Getting to Know Sal
Q: Tell us about yourself. Where did you grow up? Where did you go to school?
“I was born on the Island of St. Thomas, Virgin Islands. I graduated from Charlotte Amalie High School and attended the University of Anchorage, Alaska while in the U.S. Army. My wife Marie and I have six children: Diana, Sal Junior, Malik, Sean, Mikko, and Segev. My hobbies are planting and fishing, and I’ve been a basketball referee for 32 years.”
Q: Tell me about your career, your current position, and what led you to it.
“From 1987 to 1996, I was in the U.S. Army and achieved the rank of sergeant. I then worked for the government of the Virgin Islands as deputy commissioner for the Department of Property and Procurement until 2015. In September 2016, I signed on as stevedore manager at Tropical Shipping, and in December 2016, I became operations manager — my current position.”
Safety to Sal
Q: In your own words, why were you nominated for a safety award? Tell us about what you think is most important to maintaining safety at the Port of St. Thomas/St. John?
“As the facility security officer (FSO) and the operations manager at the St. Thomas port, I pride myself in making sure everyone goes home safe to their families. It’s a responsibility I take quite seriously.
Whether it’s a wet floor, a pothole, discolored air filters, etc., I make sure we address every concern as it relates to the safety of our personnel.
Also, being a regulated port under U.S. Coast Guard, EPA, OSHA and other regulatory agencies, if safety isn’t our priority, there could be a chance of major fines or closures to the facility that may hamper or interrupt business here at Tropical Shipping.
It’s just being aware of your surroundings and knowing what the hazards are that may affect our valued employees at the port. Keeping a state of awareness about the huge numbers of heavy equipment vehicles, and where loaded and unloaded containers traverse daily, becomes important to the mission of getting everyone home safely.”
Q: Is there something in your life that drove your commitment to safety?
“Being at Tropical Shipping since 2016, I learned the shared values and the mission statement “Safety is our Number One Priority.” It resurrected something in me, and I learned to live the safety culture.”
“I realized that life and death can come in a flash if you are not serious about SAFETY along with the health and welfare of your employees”
Working with Tropical Shipping
Q: What was your first impression of Tropical Shipping? Tell us your favorite story about your time with the company.
“My first impression was that Tropical is a secure, tenured, and family-oriented company. One of my favorite stories — also a success — was coming up with the idea of using a three-crane operation at the St. Thomas port. It saves three to four hours on our operation time. It got my employees out of the operation area much faster and it cut a lot of long hours from our schedule. Productivity and safety all the way around!”
Q: Think about a time in your career when you felt like what you were doing might not be completely safe. What did you learn from that experience?
“I remember when I first came to Tropical Shipping, I didn’t totally understand the culture of safety. Some of my experiences with the heavy equipment moving through our facility made me think twice. I realized that life and death can come in a flash if you are not serious about SAFETY along with the health and welfare of your employees.”
Q: Speaking up for safety can be difficult for some people. What advice would you give to someone within our family of companies who’s convinced their feedback won’t matter—or worse, that they’ll somehow be punished for taking action?
“I would say that our words and voices have power that many of us don’t use in the workplace. Someone speaking up could make a big difference between life and death in our operations. Even though unsafe conditions and behaviors can occur in the work environment and in particular tasks, employees have the right to a safe workplace daily.”
“Speaking up could make a big difference between life and death in our operations”
