Rose-Annette Peltier: I get to make people more safety conscious

Founder and CEO of Safety Nette Plus is using her experience as a Fire Officer to help spread safety tips to the wider Dominica public in a new way.

Rose-Annette Peltier has been with the Fire Service for several years and during a work-related trip overseas, noticed a blind spot among business places and private properties in the country.

"In 2015 I traveled to Barbados to do my certification in Fire Safety," she said. "When I returned and continued working in fire prevention and personal safety, I realized there had always been a deficiency, in that whenever we did inspections it was difficult for a person to get the equipment required and so on."

Safety Nette Plus is a small company, registered in 2020 which offers consultation in terms of fire safety and general safety. The institution also helps with emergency and evacuation planning. As regards the lack of easily accessible yet mandatory fire extinguishers, smoke detectors, and everything safety, Safey Nette Plus is also able to cover this island-wide deficiency.

Peltier reaffirmed to The Sun that her company and her job as a Fire Officer do not conflict with or contradict each other.

"It has not. For me, because my department does not sell extinguishers or that type of product it has not been a conflict for me," she said.

Though the company was registered in 2020, Peltier did a trial run in 2019. In her three years of running her business, she says the most surprising element was the overwhelming level of support from her clients.

She revealed that another shock to her was the need to educate people on the importance of personal and public safety.

"People were unaware that they needed to have an extinguisher at home or smoke detector in the office," she explained. "So that was surprising because even if you work at the Fire Service and are involved in that sort of work it was really surprising that a lot of people did not know these things."

The Safety Nette Plus CEO makes sure to share the knowledge with the clients in an effort to sensitize a growing number of people on the value of being safety conscious.

"In terms of safety, the business also offers safety training to wardens. This would be where companies can have their own safety custodians who can be mindful of the different risks that occur at work and emergencies at the workplace," she said.

In her under five years as a business owner, Peltier says one of the most significant lessons learned is that of patience. Patience to explain to people the importance of protecting themselves and patience in helping people embrace the need to keep themselves and property safe.

On the other end of the spectrum, Rose-Annette has had to embrace the fact that her products and services are not for everyone and focus on her niche market.

She told The Sun her most memorable moments come when she gets to share safety knowledge with clients.

"The fact that I get to assist persons along the way and make them more safety conscious. Even my path of self-development is because I had to look at the different products and do my research," she said.

Fully aware of the few years Safety Nette has under its belt, Rose-Annette already has plans to develop her company to be a force to be reckoned with in the future.

"I see myself and the business growing. I would like to see a fully established business in the sense that we have a location where persons could come in to get their supplies. Also, it has always been my dream to offer an education centre, which I hope to incorporate into the business location," she said.

Peltier advises those who wish to go into entrepreneurship to "challenge yourself because a lot of people have vision but they don't really work on it. So, find someone with insight who can advise you on bringing it to fruition."