Message from Eric

I had stopped breathing. My heart had stopped beating. My mom gave me CPR and mouth-to-mouth resuscitation and I lived. And I was able to go to school, eventually get married, and bring three lives into the world myself, who, no doubt, will eventually bring more life into this world themselves. But this isn’t about my story. This is just to say I can relate very personally to the story we are going to tell in this Special Edition of The Flywheel.

RQ’s stated value “SAFETY” is much more about “PEOPLE” than it is about safety itself. That’s why we explain the value as such: We value people over all other things. We are committed to a safe work environment. You see? We don’t value a safe work environment because it adds to production. We don’t value a safe work environment because somehow our customer will appreciate that and give us more work; or our subcontractor community will appreciate that and give us a better price. No. RQ is committed to a safe work environment 100% because we value people… and life… over all other things. And if you really care about life… you care about safety.

Everything RQ does is out of a genuine care for people. We strive to design and build facilities, utilities and infrastructure for our customers because we care about the people who are going to live life using these things. It supports the war fighter while it also makes it more comfortable and effective for the administrator, all while spending less money given by those millions of taxpaying Americans who don’t want to see their money wasted. We strive to grow as a business, not for added profits, but in order to create new opportunities for our incredible people to stretch into and find job satisfaction. Our constant pursuit of “better, faster, cheaper” is saturated through and through with a genuine care for people. Yes. We value people over all other things.

This Special Edition of The Flywheel aims to put an emblematic spotlight on a man who proves that Safety Matters. He would not make a big deal about the story, but the story is a big deal. It reflects what RQ wants to be each and every day… a group that cares about our fellow man no matter what. A group that cares about CPR because we care about people. A group that cares about keeping “SAFETY” fresh because we would much rather stop tragedy from happening than reacting (even reacting well) to it. A company that doesn’t just list mission statements and core values… but one filled with people who live and breath them.

Thank you for the life you’ve helped save, John Paul. Thank you for your character. Thank you for taking your training seriously. Thank you for inspiring us with no intention of doing so. Thank you for, in the heat of the moment, valuing people over all things. And thanks to all you at RQ who have the character. Who have taken your training seriously. Who, in a moment of emergency, would do exactly what John Paul did.  Your commitment is ever bit as inspiring. Who knows, it might be the life of you or me that is lifted (quite literally) through such commitment to “SAFETY.”  To “PEOPLE.”

Eric Taylor

VP OF OPERATIONS