Dan Plexman is, by his own account, an ordinary guy on an extraordinary mission to keep people safe at work. For years, he was a familiar face on construction sites across Canada, working as a driver, equipment operator, and warehouseman in the pipeline and oil sands industries. In his early thirties, he decided to switch gears and started a four-year electrical apprenticeship, a move that would unknowingly set him on a path to a completely different life.
During his apprenticeship, Dan found himself in a work environment with a lax attitude toward safety. He tried to raise concerns with his supervisors, but they went unheard. In a strange twist of fate, because no one else wanted the job, his foreman appointed him as the crew’s Safety Rep just to check a box on a form, telling him the position was strictly “on paper.”
That piece of paper meant nothing on the day that changed everything. While working alone in a manlift 17 feet off the ground, Dan was severely injured in an electrical arc flash fire. The blast caused horrific burns to 60% of his body before he fell to the ground. Doctors gave him a 13% chance of survival.
Somehow, Dan pulled through. But surviving the fire was just the beginning. The incident didn’t just burn his body, sentencing him to years of surgeries and grueling therapy; it also left him with the deep, hidden scars of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). The accident sent shockwaves through his family, too, as they all had to navigate the new reality of their loved one’s life-altering injuries.
Today, Dan is a changed man, and he’ll be the first to tell you that he wouldn’t change a thing. He believes that while we can’t always choose what happens to us, we can always choose how we respond. The experience, as horrific as it was, became a turning point for his personal growth and healing, ultimately making him a better person.
But Dan is passionate that no one should have to go through something so traumatic to grow. He knows firsthand the devastating ripple effects a preventable accident has on an individual, their family, and their coworkers. Now, his mission is to share the lessons he learned so that no one else has to suffer as he did. Speaking, a path he only found because of the accident, has become more than a job—it’s the passion that fuels his recovery and his purpose in life.
