Frank Virgadamo came recommended highly by Tim Wolff, VP Construction & Engineering, AT&T. Frank began his career with Southwestern Bell in 1974 as a service representative. In 1977, he transferred to the Construction and Engineering organization as a cable splicer. Since then, he’s had different management positions in Construction and Engineering that have brought safety to the forefront of his priority list.

Today, he is known as a safety guru, and as his real job he is Senior – Network Support on the staff of Tim Wolff, VP Construction and Engineering, AT&T.

OSP magazine likes the way safety runs through his veins. We also admire Frank’s passion for helping others realize how important safety truly is. (See sidebar below.)

Explain what you do for a living in 20 words or less.
Any opportunity that filters down to me from the office of Tim Wolff, VP Construction & Engineering.

What is the favorite part of your job?
Working with all of the employees in Construction and Engineering.

When do you feel the most frustrated professionally?
When I witness wasted intellect. Failure to include everyone who performs a task in the improvement of that task.

Fiber or Copper for the future?
They both play a big part in keeping people communicating. I can drive around Houston and see the terminals I spliced in the late ‘70s still serving customers.

What treat do you keep hidden in your office/desk/truck that helps you through an OSP day?
My Southwestern Bell Hardhat I used as a cable splicer. It never lets me forget where I began.

Where would you vacation if money were no object?
I want to travel to Burgio, Sicily, to visit the Virgadamo Bell Foundry.

What is the trait you most deplore in yourself?
My note-taking is nothing to brag about.

What is the trait you most deplore in others?
Lack of empathy.

If you had only ONE OSP tool, what would it be?
A set of AT&T Practices.

If you could change one thing about the OSP, what would it be?
I would not change a thing. Whatever the issue, we seem to make things work.

When do you feel the most satisfied professionally?
When my customers, whether internal or external, are satisfied.

What are the qualities you most admire in a colleague?
Honesty. And Integrity.

What’s your favorite quote?
It is a quote I saw the first day I began my Service Representative training in July of 1974. When I opened the first page of my training manual it said: “To the customer you are the Telephone Company.”

Tell us the most extraordinary/unusual experience you’ve had out in the field.
In the summer of 1979 my partner and I were splicing a new 3000-pair cable down a manhole lead paralleling I-10 West. We were in the manhole splicing and heard tires screeching from I-10. Someone ran over to our manhole and said there had been an accident on the freeway and wanted us to call for an ambulance and police.

He then asked if we knew first aid. We climbed out of the manhole and grabbed the first aid kits from our trucks. That day we stopped the bleeding on 3 of the accident victims by using direct pressure and elevation. Due to my training it was like second nature.

Tell us the funniest customer experience you’ve experienced, or seen, in the field.
I was running cross-connects on a busy corner, and the traffic lights were out of order and flashing red. The number of drivers yelling at me about the flashing red lights was unbelievable.

Tell us how you got into telecommunications. By chance or plan?
I was hired in 1974 as a service representative. In 1977, I transferred to Construction and Engineering as a cable splicer and I have been here ever since.

If you could have your perfect job in telecom, what would it be?
The job I have. 

----------------------------------------------------------

Safety Questions

What’s your biggest safety concern?
My biggest safety concerns are our employees not paying attention and endangering themselves and/or the public, and the public not paying attention and endangering our employees and themselves.

What is one simple thing AT&T teams can do to remain safe?
AT&T teams must stay up to date on their Safety training. Remember the AT&T Safety Creed:
No Job Is So Important
And No Service Is So Urgent
That We Can Not Take Time
To Perform Our Work Safely
And In an Environmentally Responsible Manner

What’s your most important safety-oriented tool?
AT&T Safety training. It keeps you prepared for any situation in your work or personal life.

What safety no-no do you see in the field (with other companies, of course) that irks you?
The safety no-no I see with other companies is their lack of work area protection and personal protective equipment.

Why did you become so interested in safety?
My second job title with Southwestern Bell was a cable splicer. We were taught safety from the first day, and if you want to make it home at the end of day you have to practice safety constantly.

What’s the most dangerous situation you’ve been in and how did you get out of it?
I was assigned a project to splice a 900-pair load coil into a new 1800-pair cable. I was in the bottom of the manhole placing my platform jacks when the tail of the load coil broke loose from the neck of the manhole. The air valve on the top of the load coil tail hit my hard hat and put a deep gouge in it. Suffice it to say my hard hat saved me from a potential injury.

Safety = Being aware of your situation.