Talking Construction Safety Culture and Climate at Safety 2015
Representatives of companies of varying sizes talked about steps they took to improve their safety culture.
DALLAS — June 9 at ASSE's Safety 2015 conference and expo kicked off with an interesting mid-morning session focused on construction safety and how companies can improve. Representatives from four companies as well as the Center for Construction and Research Training (CPWR) offered real-world examples of how to motivate employees to care not only for their own safety, but also the safety of others.
Paul Amedee of Safeway Group Holding, LLC looked at what Safeway was initially doing when he was brought on board. Like many companies, Safeway had focused too much on lagging indicators instead of being proactive. Amedee made it a point of emphasis to identify eight key leading indicators that would allow him to be successful in ensuring Safeway developed a safer work climate.
Next, Tony Bersott of TCM covered the concept of change and how it can be facilitated. With clarity, such as annual strategic plans and a redefined mission statement, organizations can work toward the change they want to bring about. Bersott also credited the partnership between practitioners and academics as a win-win situation.
Following TCM was Rusty Brown of Kiewit Power Constructors who had a simple message: No one gets hurt. He hammered the idea home by emphasizing that everyone within an organization must buy in, from management down to the crew. By engaging employees at all levels, the idea of "no one gets hurt" becomes more realistic.
Finally, O'Brien Mills of Aldridge Electric, Inc., introduced his event reporting program that was implemented in order to ensure that the proper number of incidents being reported reflect the work being done. Like the other speakers at this session, his insistence on caring for others led to the development of his IIF solution.