Safety always comes first at Global Diving & Salvage, Inc. It’s our priority to ensure safe work environments by emphasizing collaboration among our staff and clients. But our focus on safety doesn’t stop when we’re off the clock, it’s also a value we want employees to exemplify at home and in the community.

Take Global divers Carl Bryant and Tyler Wiesen for example. The two were attending a friend’s birthday party the night of Saturday, July 8, 2017, at a neighborhood clubhouse next to Lake of Egypt in Illinois. The celebration suddenly took an unusual turn when an accident on a nearby road caused a pickup truck to careen down an embankment and into the water.

“We heard the crash and saw a truck go into the lake,” said Wiesen, who is currently working his second full season on the Olmsted Dam project. “There was a boat down at the dock, so we ran down, got on it, and cruised out there to help.”

Without hesitation, Bryant, Wiesen, and two other men piloted the boat to the scene a few hundred yards from the clubhouse to lend assistance.

“There wasn’t really a conscious thought of ‘I wonder if they’re okay, or I wonder how that’s going,” said Bryant, who is also a volunteer fire fighter and licensed EMT. “When you hear somebody is in trouble, you just start going.”

When they arrived at the scene, the driver, who was the only passenger in the truck, was already out of the vehicle, conscious, and treading water in the lake.

“We were ready to jump in the water, but she was telling us, ‘I’m fine. I’m fine,’” said Bryant, who has worked at Olmsted Dam since December 2014. “We just helped her get on the boat and then took her back to shore.”

Luckily, there weren’t any serious injuries, and the incident resulted in an otherwise happy ending for everyone involved.

“It’s not something I want to get blown out of proportion,” said Bryant. “We just happened to be able to get over there and get right next to the vehicle.”

Regardless of their humility, Bryant and Wiesen exemplify what Global is all about: making safety a priority and stepping up to help when others are in need.

“You don’t ever want to see anybody get hurt,” said Wiesen, “It’s just moral to make sure people are doing things safely and not getting injured.”

The divers give credit to others on shore and on the water who also sprung into action to help that night.

“I hope somebody else would think the same way if one of my friends or someone in my family was in trouble,” added Bryant. “I hope they wouldn’t hesitate and wonder, ‘Maybe somebody else will take care of it.’”