Employee Stories

Arctic Work Crews Make Major Adjustments to Their Unique Schedule to Stay Safe During Covid-19

For nine Dyno Nobel Arctic crews, viewing the spectacular Northern Lights is just a part of their normal work environment, as are temperatures reaching -54F with a windchill of -76F and whiteout blizzards.

Because of the difficulty of getting to the extreme Northern parts of Canada, Arctic work crews at mine sites generally fly in for 2-3 weeks and then are home for 2-3 weeks.  Since Covid-19, these crews have moved to a 4-week rotation.  As you can imagine, this schedule can be taxing both physically and mentally.  After a while, phone calls, face time and other electronic communications are not quite as satisfying, and managing fatigue becomes extremely important. 

Joe Hejny Reaches 41 years with Dyno Nobel as his Biwabik Plant Reaches 1.5 Billion Pounds of Emulsion

Joe Hejny, General Manger Iron Range, will be leaving Dyno Nobel this month after an impressive 41 years with the company.  The Iron Range he manages leads DNA in sales of TITAN emulsion and DigiShot Plus electronic initiation and have just reached a record 1.5 billion pounds of emulsion.

The Biwabik emulsion plant operates 5 days per week with just 3 three employees, yet they produce 100.0 MM pounds of emulsion per year, 94.0 MM pounds of TITAN G goes into local taconite mines and 6.0 MM pounds of TITAN RU into central Canada underground mines.

Booster Business Team

I personally appreciate all the time invested from the people interested in helping us improve safety and efficiency. There are still ways to improve practices and it is important to share those ideas openly. Learning from one another is so important.

Marco Polo Ruvalcaba Cázares
DNMX Booster Process Engineer

DynoConsult Go Above and Beyond for New Jersey Customer in Peak of COVID-19 Crisis

After Caleb Strope, a DynoConsult Consultant safely and successfully completed Phase One of a demolition job in New Jersey, the customer asked him back to support Phase Two during the peak of the COVID-19 Crisis, Caleb didn’t hesitate.

Caleb Strope, a DynoConsult Consultant, received a call from Independent Explosives informing him that Dykon Explosive Demolition was about to complete phase two of a demolition job near Trenton, NJ.  Caleb supported Dykon Explosive Demolition in phase one a few months ago. Independent Explosives requested that Caleb support them in this phase as well. 

Dyno Nobel Operators Going that Extra Mile

Despite the unprecedented challenges we are facing right now with the COVID-19 pandemic, there’s so many good news stories from around the business. 

Retirement Announcement EJ Burke

After more than 24 years with Dyno Nobel and over 52 years in the explosives industry, EJ Burke has decided that it is a good time to retire. While it will be sad to see EJ leave us, I am very happy for him that he has arrived at such a place in his career considering all that he has accomplished with Dyno Nobel and for our customers, says Braden Lusk, President Dyno Nobel Americas.

EJ has said that he is “privileged to have started his career with the best explosives company in the industry (DuPont at the time) and now end his career with the best explosives company in the industry (Dyno Nobel)”. EJ’s most recent role has been corporate Brand and Values Ambassador but he has held many senior and key roles in the Company over the years including SVP National Sales, VP Industry Development Quarry, and General Manager Stone.

Essential Business Operating to Support Other Essential Industries

The situation regarding the COVID-19 (coronavirus) is constantly changing and Dyno Nobel’s priority is to ensure the safety of our people and customers.

Dyno Nobel’s leadership team has met daily since early March to discuss immediate actions required in response to changing conditions. The first consideration for these discussions is the safety, health, and welfare of our employees, customers, and those that interact with our business. We are actively managing work schedules, minimizing exposure, and protecting our workers that are necessary to operate our business. All functions across our business are responding in amazing ways to maintain strong supply chains, manufacturing, logistics, delivery and servicing of our customers.

Global Manufacturing Operating to Plan

Our number one priority remains your health, safety and wellbeing, and as President of not just Global Manufacturing, but also HSE, I want to reiterate that our response to the COVID-19 virus, and the measures we are implementing are designed to keep you all safe while keeping our plants and businesses running with minimal disruptions.

"I am proud of the way our Global Manufacturing team is embracing and implementing the additional safety controls to keep us safe and flatten the curve of the spread of the virus, such as the social distancing measures and working arrangements introduced. Despite the challenges the virus is putting on the global infrastructure, our plants across the US and Asia Pacific all continue to remain operational with all precautions operating."

Innovative Sourcing of Janitorial Supplies Strengthens Dyno Nobel Procurement Team

“Who would have thought that sourcing janitorial supplies would become the quest for the Holy Grail?” said Tracy O’Connor Mathiason, Director Operational Procurement for Dyno Nobel Americas.

Within days of the first COVID-19 cases affecting Americans; toilet paper, disinfectant wipes, cleaners, hand sanitizer and N/95 masks flew off store shelves. The same story pretty much across the world. Our suppliers had limited stock with long lead times. We couldn’t even get supplies from Amazon, unless we wanted to wait until the end of May for delivery!

Nitromak Dyno Nobel Supports Local Hospital with PPE Donation

In support of health workers in Turkey, Nitromak Dyno Nobel (NDN) recently donated critical personal protective equipment (PPE) to staff on the front line of the Covid-19 crisis at Soma State Hospital (SSH).

Not All Front-Line Workers Wear PPE

With approximately twenty percent of our people across the Group working from home where possible, we wanted to join our colleagues across the Americas in thanking all of our front-line employees for maintaining our plants and keeping our operations running.

Not all of these wear PPE though. Take Bayly Ogden (Salt Lake City), Nadia Boath and Ana Escobar (both in Perth) and Emma Meadows (Brisbane).

These four women are holding the fort in the front-line receptions of our major offices to keep operations ticking along. Every day, they go above and beyond, heading into empty offices to support our critical services on the front line which we could not do without.

Shifting the Paradigm of Staying Connected

Read why Nicole Beeman, Business Analyst Corporate Accounts & Technical Services, is Dyno Nobel Proud.

Like many of the world right now, our teams have had to adapt to a new (hopefully temporary) normal, where meetings are virtual, handshakes are now toe taps or finger guns, travel is extremely limited and phone calls are our front-line connection.

Simsbury's Truck Drivers Ensure Reliable Transport Services for Manufacturing and Local Customers

Dyno Nobel’s Simsbury Site Manager Kelly Parent shares how the Site’s Material Controls team have continued to serve despite reduced driver numbers, increased key critical controls and without compromising safety.

At Simsbury, the Material Controls department’s primary responsibility is to provide road transport services to all SICT Manufacturing (Simsbury, Connecticut) with the delivery of raw materials and the removal and storage of finished goods, as well as WEMA distribution ((Warren, Massachusetts) with the delivery of finished goods to New England customers.

The Global IT Team Rallies for Zero Harm and Business Continuity

Despite extraordinary circumstances with the COVID-19 pandemic, many of our IPL colleagues have come together for both the safety of our employees and continuity of business operations.

Our global IT team also rose to this challenge during the month of March as many employees transitioned to working from home.

White Rock Quarries Takes the Safety and Security of Their Employees to a New Level

Jim Hurley, President of White Rock Quarries, recently explained their extraordinary best practice in Covid-19 safety to EJ Burke, Vice President Dyno Nobel Brand and Values Ambassador.

White Rock Quarries is a major Florida provider of high-quality DOT-certified crushed limestone aggregates and screenings for road construction, asphalt pavement, and ready-mix concrete products and has been a loyal Dyno Nobel customer for over 30 years.