September 4, 2024 • 9 mins
Travis Nelson is the CEO of Diversified Fall Protection, the largest turnkey fall protection integrator in the U.S. for regulatory-driven systems and services. Nelson is a distinguished leader and influencer in the fall protection industry and brings over 20 years of industry experience to the position.
Nelson's journey with DFP began in 2019, initially as Vice President of Engineering and later as Vice President of Strategy. His tenure at DFP commenced after the acquisition of PEAK Fall Protection, where Nelson served as managing partner and president for nearly 12 years.
A trusted industry leader since 1994, Diversified Fall Protection (DFP) specializes in the design, fabrication and installation of complete fall protection solutions that keep workers safe from falls, one of the most common causes of workplace injury and fatality. The company minimizes customer liability and protects employees through a comprehensive system of OSHA-compliant fall protection solutions, education programs and an in-house engineering and design team. As a certified integrator of every major manufacturer of system components, DFP provides fall protection partnership for life through the systems we engineer, produce, install, and service.
Nelson's journey with DFP began in 2019, initially as Vice President of Engineering and later as Vice President of Strategy. His tenure at DFP commenced after the acquisition of PEAK Fall Protection, where Nelson served as managing partner and president for nearly 12 years.
A trusted industry leader since 1994, Diversified Fall Protection (DFP) specializes in the design, fabrication and installation of complete fall protection solutions that keep workers safe from falls, one of the most common causes of workplace injury and fatality. The company minimizes customer liability and protects employees through a comprehensive system of OSHA-compliant fall protection solutions, education programs and an in-house engineering and design team. As a certified integrator of every major manufacturer of system components, DFP provides fall protection partnership for life through the systems we engineer, produce, install, and service.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
This is how radio CEOs you should know. I'm Keith Hotchkiss.
And when you hear the company name Diversified Fall Protection,
do you think of a beautiful autumn day. You really
should be thinking about a company doing incredible life saving
work for workers all over the US, based right here
in Cleveland. We sat down with the CEO, Travis Nelson,
(00:21):
about the rewarding business of keeping people safe from falls. So, Travis,
tell me a little bit about Diversified Fall Protection. Tell
us about what you do and what your companies, what
your company stands for.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
Yeah, absolutely, So you know, first of all, falls are
a leading cause of workplace injuries and fatalities, and so
Diversified Fall Protection exists in order to partner with clients
who have need of expertise, and essentially we're partnering with
them to limit their exposure to risk that is related
(00:54):
to falls from heights.
Speaker 1 (00:56):
When you think about falls, so you hear the company
Versified Fall Protection, and you don't necessarily associate fall with
an injury, right, or you may think of fall or
it's not immediately obvious what your company does, but I
think the work is important. Right, you're talking about protecting
fathers mothers, sons, daughters at a workplace when expediency and
(01:19):
time crunches, and I guess maybe the demand on the
construction industry and itself could cause people to be lacks.
How do you work with companies to prevent these catastrophic
injuries so that the employees are safe but the work
still gets done on time.
Speaker 2 (01:35):
Oh, there's so much to that question, right, So, I
mean it starts with training and awareness, right, And so
we really are offering ourselves to our customers as trusted advisors,
And so what does that mean. It means that we
have expertise within our teams, and it also means that
we're stewards to our customers too, that we're helping them
(01:55):
understand where their risk is the greatest so that they
can really expedite and prioritize those areas. Because you know,
as you say, falls happen in an instant and it's
sometimes due to in attention, it might be a miscalculation,
it's something quick that happened that all of a sudden
fall occurs. And so that pre planning and understanding of
(02:18):
how to combat that is not just a product or
a solution, it's also a mentality and that's why the
training and awareness aspect is so great.
Speaker 1 (02:27):
And when you talk about some of the ways that
you're preventing accidents, some of the I guess new ways
you're doing it, harnesses and obviously non slippery floors. I
guess it's all part of it. Right. Can you talk
about some of the really innovative products from your company?
Speaker 2 (02:43):
Yeah, for sure. Yeah, I mean, as you started with,
I mean, there's so much that a fall could mean, Like,
that's such a nebulous term. I mean, that could be
a fall from the same surface, right, And you know,
I think there's a misconception in our industry that dangerous
falls happen at the very top of an extension ladder
from the roof of a very tall building. And although
that's true, there's so many there's so many factors that
(03:07):
can influence false severity and frequency, the level of training,
and so all of these are factors that we take
into consideration when we meet with our clients to kind
of understand, hey, look, where are you most exposed and
where can we then provide a solution that is most compatible.
(03:27):
And so, you know, really in our business, it's it's
not just having the you know, kind of the silver
bullet type solution. It's having the full array of products,
because what you don't want to do is get married
to a certain product segment and then force that into
an application where truly it's not the best choice. And
so for us, as our name implies, the diversification of
(03:50):
our products is key. And you know, so we get
into an array of what we'll call active and passive products.
Some reguardrail systems more passive, right, meaning I really don't
have a mental input in order to prevent me from falling.
That guardrail in itself allows me to passively go about
my business, whereas some of other products are active in nature,
(04:11):
just meaning perhaps I'm tethering myself to a system in
order to prevent a fall from over the edge.
Speaker 1 (04:17):
We're talking with Travis Nelson, the CEO of Diversified Fall Protection.
You have an office in the Cleveland area. You're based
out of North Carolina, but you're I imagine your company
can expand in many parts of the US. Is that correct?
We do? We do?
Speaker 2 (04:31):
Yeah. I'm part of a legacy North Carolina operation and
that operation joined the Diversified Fall Protection family in twenty nineteen,
and so like minded owners of fall protection business like
myself have joined forces over the past several years because,
just as you suggested a moment ago, you know, we
(04:54):
really see the need for our customers to have national reach.
And the reason that's benefit to our customers is that
it's essential to have a programmatic approach to a solution.
And so what you really don't want is a building
in one region that has a fall protection solution that's
vastly different than another region, right, and have some of
(05:16):
the same workers trying to understand how to use both.
And so from our perspective, we realize that our ability
to serve as customers regionally was excellent. We want to
be able to work programmatically with our national clients who
need consistency.
Speaker 1 (05:31):
You know, that's a really great point when you think
about the work you're doing. I mean, I spend a
lot of time selling all kinds of products from all
different worlds in business, but it has to be rewarding
to do the work you do. Right, you're essentially saving lives, Right,
Can you talk about that's kind of why you got
in the business.
Speaker 2 (05:50):
Oh yeah, that's great. I mean that that's really our
passion and our purpose. It's saved lives and it's a
high calling. But we stress that just because we want
to bring that in importance to our teams on the daily.
And that's part of our right person for organization is
the person that has that deep appreciation for Hey, the
project that I'm working on today could potentially save a
(06:12):
life tomorrow.
Speaker 1 (06:13):
I think that's we often joke around here in the
audio business that we're not saving lives, you know, and
maybe you could make a leap of faith a few
miles down the road that sometimes we talk about suicide
prevention or something, so in case that happens. But this
is really good work, and this is meaningful work. How
do you in this crazy world where CEOs are under
(06:35):
a lot of stress and pressure to you know, both
achieve the product goals and the financial goals, which sometimes
now always balance. How do you decompress, how do you
de stress, and how do you keep yourself sharp and
focused so that you don't have an accident or make
a mistake or you can prevent that yourself.
Speaker 2 (06:52):
Yeah, totally. I mean it helps to have kind of
that higher purpose that you can focus on at work,
right because at the end of the day, our calling
is to our customers and our commitment is to their safety.
But then outside of work, like, how do you keep
that fire burning? How do you stay refueled? And for me,
it's you've got to find your outlet, right, and whether
that's whether that's meditation or whether that's some form of exercise,
(07:13):
for me, that's what it is. I kind of I
enjoy that after work exercise burn. That's kind of the
mental release that I need that refuels me.
Speaker 1 (07:22):
So, Travis, as we sit here today, the company's been
based in Cleveland, but also has lots of offices in
North Carolina and some other areas. You're nationwide at this point,
So if someone's listening to you anywhere in the US,
diversified fall protection can potentially help.
Speaker 2 (07:37):
Right absolutely. Yeah, it's important for us to be close
in proximity to our customers and then of course having
just close relationships as well.
Speaker 1 (07:45):
Well. You talked about that programmatic solution where if someone's
building a building in Montana and then they go to Wyoming,
you want there to be the similar training, the similar
methodology to stay safe, I imagine.
Speaker 2 (07:56):
Right absolutely, And the biggest part of that is just
training for their personnel, right, And so we want to
have fewer types of systems, and it just reduces the
complexity of perhaps onboarding a new employee within their organization.
Once you know how to use one or two type systems,
you have the capacity to work at other facilities as well.
Speaker 1 (08:16):
Right if people are looking to either look at Diversified
fall Protection as a potential vendor of THEIRS, or if
they're thinking about a career change that gives you a
little bit of a meaningful look at the construction and industry,
how can they find you? How can they reach out?
Speaker 2 (08:33):
So our website is at fall protect dot com and
there's access to our various locations across the company there.
Like you say, I'm here in Cleveland today, we have
a West site location, but we have various other locations
as well.
Speaker 1 (08:47):
Fallprotect dot com for an opportunity to have meaning a
full work done for you or to be part of
a team that's doing great work in a growing industry. So,
Travis Nelson, CEO Diversified All Protection, thanks for joining us
on CEOs You Should Know today.
Speaker 2 (09:03):
Thank you so glad to be here.
Speaker 1 (09:04):
And this has been iHeartRadio CEOs You Should Know. Today's
show is produced by Bob Coatesaid I'm Keith Hotchkiss. We'll
see you next time.
This is how radio CEOs you should know. I'm Keith Hotchkiss.
And when you hear the company name Diversified Fall Protection,
do you think of a beautiful autumn day. You really
should be thinking about a company doing incredible life saving
work for workers all over the US, based right here
in Cleveland. We sat down with the CEO, Travis Nelson,
(00:21):
about the rewarding business of keeping people safe from falls. So, Travis,
tell me a little bit about Diversified Fall Protection. Tell
us about what you do and what your companies, what
your company stands for.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
Yeah, absolutely, So you know, first of all, falls are
a leading cause of workplace injuries and fatalities, and so
Diversified Fall Protection exists in order to partner with clients
who have need of expertise, and essentially we're partnering with
them to limit their exposure to risk that is related
(00:54):
to falls from heights.
Speaker 1 (00:56):
When you think about falls, so you hear the company
Versified Fall Protection, and you don't necessarily associate fall with
an injury, right, or you may think of fall or
it's not immediately obvious what your company does, but I
think the work is important. Right, you're talking about protecting
fathers mothers, sons, daughters at a workplace when expediency and
(01:19):
time crunches, and I guess maybe the demand on the
construction industry and itself could cause people to be lacks.
How do you work with companies to prevent these catastrophic
injuries so that the employees are safe but the work
still gets done on time.
Speaker 2 (01:35):
Oh, there's so much to that question, right, So, I
mean it starts with training and awareness, right, And so
we really are offering ourselves to our customers as trusted advisors,
And so what does that mean. It means that we
have expertise within our teams, and it also means that
we're stewards to our customers too, that we're helping them
(01:55):
understand where their risk is the greatest so that they
can really expedite and prioritize those areas. Because you know,
as you say, falls happen in an instant and it's
sometimes due to in attention, it might be a miscalculation,
it's something quick that happened that all of a sudden
fall occurs. And so that pre planning and understanding of
(02:18):
how to combat that is not just a product or
a solution, it's also a mentality and that's why the
training and awareness aspect is so great.
Speaker 1 (02:27):
And when you talk about some of the ways that
you're preventing accidents, some of the I guess new ways
you're doing it, harnesses and obviously non slippery floors. I
guess it's all part of it. Right. Can you talk
about some of the really innovative products from your company?
Speaker 2 (02:43):
Yeah, for sure. Yeah, I mean, as you started with,
I mean, there's so much that a fall could mean, Like,
that's such a nebulous term. I mean, that could be
a fall from the same surface, right, And you know,
I think there's a misconception in our industry that dangerous
falls happen at the very top of an extension ladder
from the roof of a very tall building. And although
that's true, there's so many there's so many factors that
(03:07):
can influence false severity and frequency, the level of training,
and so all of these are factors that we take
into consideration when we meet with our clients to kind
of understand, hey, look, where are you most exposed and
where can we then provide a solution that is most compatible.
(03:27):
And so, you know, really in our business, it's it's
not just having the you know, kind of the silver
bullet type solution. It's having the full array of products,
because what you don't want to do is get married
to a certain product segment and then force that into
an application where truly it's not the best choice. And
so for us, as our name implies, the diversification of
(03:50):
our products is key. And you know, so we get
into an array of what we'll call active and passive products.
Some reguardrail systems more passive, right, meaning I really don't
have a mental input in order to prevent me from falling.
That guardrail in itself allows me to passively go about
my business, whereas some of other products are active in nature,
(04:11):
just meaning perhaps I'm tethering myself to a system in
order to prevent a fall from over the edge.
Speaker 1 (04:17):
We're talking with Travis Nelson, the CEO of Diversified Fall Protection.
You have an office in the Cleveland area. You're based
out of North Carolina, but you're I imagine your company
can expand in many parts of the US. Is that correct?
We do? We do?
Speaker 2 (04:31):
Yeah. I'm part of a legacy North Carolina operation and
that operation joined the Diversified Fall Protection family in twenty nineteen,
and so like minded owners of fall protection business like
myself have joined forces over the past several years because,
just as you suggested a moment ago, you know, we
(04:54):
really see the need for our customers to have national reach.
And the reason that's benefit to our customers is that
it's essential to have a programmatic approach to a solution.
And so what you really don't want is a building
in one region that has a fall protection solution that's
vastly different than another region, right, and have some of
(05:16):
the same workers trying to understand how to use both.
And so from our perspective, we realize that our ability
to serve as customers regionally was excellent. We want to
be able to work programmatically with our national clients who
need consistency.
Speaker 1 (05:31):
You know, that's a really great point when you think
about the work you're doing. I mean, I spend a
lot of time selling all kinds of products from all
different worlds in business, but it has to be rewarding
to do the work you do. Right, you're essentially saving lives, Right,
Can you talk about that's kind of why you got
in the business.
Speaker 2 (05:50):
Oh yeah, that's great. I mean that that's really our
passion and our purpose. It's saved lives and it's a
high calling. But we stress that just because we want
to bring that in importance to our teams on the daily.
And that's part of our right person for organization is
the person that has that deep appreciation for Hey, the
project that I'm working on today could potentially save a
(06:12):
life tomorrow.
Speaker 1 (06:13):
I think that's we often joke around here in the
audio business that we're not saving lives, you know, and
maybe you could make a leap of faith a few
miles down the road that sometimes we talk about suicide
prevention or something, so in case that happens. But this
is really good work, and this is meaningful work. How
do you in this crazy world where CEOs are under
(06:35):
a lot of stress and pressure to you know, both
achieve the product goals and the financial goals, which sometimes
now always balance. How do you decompress, how do you
de stress, and how do you keep yourself sharp and
focused so that you don't have an accident or make
a mistake or you can prevent that yourself.
Speaker 2 (06:52):
Yeah, totally. I mean it helps to have kind of
that higher purpose that you can focus on at work,
right because at the end of the day, our calling
is to our customers and our commitment is to their safety.
But then outside of work, like, how do you keep
that fire burning? How do you stay refueled? And for me,
it's you've got to find your outlet, right, and whether
that's whether that's meditation or whether that's some form of exercise,
(07:13):
for me, that's what it is. I kind of I
enjoy that after work exercise burn. That's kind of the
mental release that I need that refuels me.
Speaker 1 (07:22):
So, Travis, as we sit here today, the company's been
based in Cleveland, but also has lots of offices in
North Carolina and some other areas. You're nationwide at this point,
So if someone's listening to you anywhere in the US,
diversified fall protection can potentially help.
Speaker 2 (07:37):
Right absolutely. Yeah, it's important for us to be close
in proximity to our customers and then of course having
just close relationships as well.
Speaker 1 (07:45):
Well. You talked about that programmatic solution where if someone's
building a building in Montana and then they go to Wyoming,
you want there to be the similar training, the similar
methodology to stay safe, I imagine.
Speaker 2 (07:56):
Right absolutely, And the biggest part of that is just
training for their personnel, right, And so we want to
have fewer types of systems, and it just reduces the
complexity of perhaps onboarding a new employee within their organization.
Once you know how to use one or two type systems,
you have the capacity to work at other facilities as well.
Speaker 1 (08:16):
Right if people are looking to either look at Diversified
fall Protection as a potential vendor of THEIRS, or if
they're thinking about a career change that gives you a
little bit of a meaningful look at the construction and industry,
how can they find you? How can they reach out?
Speaker 2 (08:33):
So our website is at fall protect dot com and
there's access to our various locations across the company there.
Like you say, I'm here in Cleveland today, we have
a West site location, but we have various other locations
as well.
Speaker 1 (08:47):
Fallprotect dot com for an opportunity to have meaning a
full work done for you or to be part of
a team that's doing great work in a growing industry. So,
Travis Nelson, CEO Diversified All Protection, thanks for joining us
on CEOs You Should Know today.
Speaker 2 (09:03):
Thank you so glad to be here.
Speaker 1 (09:04):
And this has been iHeartRadio CEOs You Should Know. Today's
show is produced by Bob Coatesaid I'm Keith Hotchkiss. We'll
see you next time.
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