One of the best safety rules in construction is the maintaining of three points of contact. Ironically, multiple points of contact initially led OCA’s new Director of Labor Relations & Safety Affairs Dave Coniglio to learn of the association, begin a career with one of its member companies and then back to OCA 25 years later.
“It has come full-circle,” said Coniglio, who joined the OCA staff in November and will assume the Director of Labor Relations & Safety Affairs position in January 2023. He succeeds Mark Potnick, who is retiring following 25 years in the role.
Coniglio learned of OCA in 1997 when he was informed about a safety director’s position with the association. However, upon speaking with then OCA President Clark Street, Coniglio discovered the position had been filled, ironically, by Potnik. An OCA member, who happened to be at the association’s Columbus headquarters, learned of Coniglio’s experience and contacted a friend and fellow OCA member, who at the time was looking to hire a company safety director. Two days later, Coniglio accepted a safety director’s role with John R. Jurgensen Company (JRJ).
“The job I applied for, now 25 years later I am filling that role,” said Coniglio of joining the OCA staff. OCA President Chris Runyan believes the association is fortunate to have found a candidate having dual experience in safety and labor relations. “Honestly, finding a labor relations specialist is kind of a dying breed in some ways,” said Runyan, who noted that many applicants had the safety specialist component but not the labor relations experience. “Dave is very unique in having both of those components that Mark (Potnick) demonstrated so well during his years serving OCA.”
The OCA Director of Labor Relations & Safety Affairs role is described by Coniglio as one he is excited to serve as both an assistant and consultant for members. “I see the role as one where I’m assisting the membership with any labor or safety questions that they may have. It could be an OSHA inspection; maybe there’s a safety program and am asked, ‘Hey, how does this work?’ ‘Do you have information?’ I can help them and call on my experience and can give them advice,” he said. “The main part of it is going to be assisting the membership from a consulting standpoint and helping them through issues that they have daily, whether it be labor related, safety related, workers’ comp, whatever … That is the main part of the job; assisting the membership in those areas.”
As a safety director initially for JRJ, Coniglio oversaw employees’ health and safety issues as well as the company’s OSHA and department of transportation compliance. In 2000, he added human resource tasks to his duties and performed JRJ companies’ hiring, recruiting and employee benefits as well as risk, liability and labor relations. Coniglio performed the multiple duties until 2017 when JRJ’s continued growth led to additional hires in H.R., which allowed him more time to work in the areas of safety, workers’ comp, liability and labor relations.
With JRJ, Coniglio had the opportunity to see first-hand how the OCA Director of Labor Relations & Safety Affairs works with association members. He has served on the OCA Safety Committee since 1997 as well as been involved in the association’s labor relations. An OCA Executive Labor Committee member since 2008, Coniglio has worked with Potnick and fellow members in contract negotiations and other collective bargaining agreements with the different craft unions.
“I’ve known Dave for a number of years,” Potnick said. “When he came into his role in handling labor (relations) at Jurgensen, his personality and demeanor clicked with mine and we developed a good working relationship.”
“I have used Mark as a resource and contacted him many times with questions,” said Coniglio. “… As far as learning from him, he has been instrumental in helping me learn different pieces of the industry and various interpretations. He has been extremely helpful, and somewhat of a mentor as far as educating me in how something applies and learning of doing it another way.”
A native of Idamay, W.Va., a former mining town in the northern part of the state, Coniglio laughs when he describes his hometown’s remoteness. “I didn’t know pizza was supposed to be hot until I went to college, because I was 30 minutes from anywhere growing up.” While his immediate family – consisting of his mother, father, older sister and younger brother – was small, his large extended family of aunts, uncles and cousins made up for it. Following high school, where he enjoyed participating in football, Coniglio attended nearby Fairmont State College, now Fairmont State University.
At Fairmont State, Coniglio earned a degree in safety engineering. “At the time, it was getting really big, and there were a lot of different things you could do with the degree outside engineering or a design-type job,” he said. “You could work for OSHA, you could work for contractors, you could work for manufacturing … Within that safety discipline, was the opportunity to go in and facilitate all these changes to make it a better place – a safer place.”
He did just that when he oversaw the safety program at a paper mill. However, when the facility closed, Coniglio contacted a friend about work in Ohio. It is then that he realized multiple points of contact – in addition to preventing accidents – would lead to opportunities with OCA and the association’s membership.
Coniglio and his wife of 27 years, Heather, have two sons, Nick, who works with the Warren County Sheriff’s Office, and Matthew, who attends the University of Cincinnati. A sports enthusiast, Coniglio has coached youth football and wrestling and is a Class 1 football official in Ohio, having refereed more than 100 games this fall from varsity high school to youth. He also enjoys fishing and the annual treks each spring back to the mountains of West Virginia. “I think I enjoy not so much the fishing part of it, as much as just getting out there … It’s just really enjoyable,” he said.
Over his career, Coniglio has seen a transformation in the way company safety programs are viewed and valued. “It’s night and day,” he said. “When I got into this part of the industry, I think it was a good time to do so. OSHA was still in its infancy, and companies were trying to become compliant, so they needed people with that (safety) background. As far as seeing it evolve, 25 years ago you were viewed as somebody that was coming in and changing things and telling people how to do things. Now, it’s welcomed, you feel much more part of the team.”