Local 117 Shop Steward, Sgt. Michael Delgado, leads the Place Safety Muster at WCCW.

At WCCW, Place Safety Muster is a lively event. Run by Local 117 Shop Steward Sgt. Michael Delgado, the meetings are engaging, as members mull over critical issues.

A respected leader and natural-born educator, Delgado infuses knowledge acquired from his 35 years of experience at DOC with intelligent, rapid-fire questions.

At a recent meeting, Delgado’s focus was, as it often is, on emergency response.

“If something kicked off, what would you do?” he asked. Several officers chime in. “If additional staff are needed, what happens?” Delgado continues. “What have we tried to get away from in the past? You guys from CORE, what do you think?”

A new officer jumps in: “If you see it, you own it,” he said.

It was the first of several catchphrases that popped up at the meeting. ‘You’re only as good as your last callout’ was another, and, ‘If you didn’t document it, you didn’t do it’.

Other topics included correctional fatigue, the appropriate use of OC, excessive overtime for BFOQs, and the differences between working at a male and female prison. At every step, Delgado encouraged his co-workers to share their concerns and to learn from each other.

“There isn’t a person who knows it all,” he said. “So they should know that it’s okay to ask. Hopefully they can feel like they got it off their chest.”