Safety lessons were learned when members of the AWCI Safety and Health Committee and other volunteer safety and health professionals conducted two reviews of the safety programs and cultures at two AWCI member contracting companies—OCP Contracting in Cleveland, Ohio (April 29–May 1) and Performance Contracting, Inc. (PCI), in Kansas City, Kansas (October 21–24).
Each peer safety review aims to share information about safety best practices and improve the safety performance of all AWCI member companies. This includes benefits to both the reviewers and the companies being reviewed. Safety is not just what happens where the ceilings and walls are built, but at every step of every process: product manufacturing, transport, installation, getting workers and equipment safely to and from the site and tool and equipment maintenance and recordkeeping.
The first peer safety review of 2024 was with OCP whereby they shared their philosophy of continuous improvement. Although the safety team at OCP is very experienced, they wanted voices from other parts of the industry to come in and take a hard look at their activities and procedures. This included a review of job sites, tool and equipment policies, interviews with estimators and discussions with management and the human resource team. There were also conversations with individual workers and forepersons, safety personnel and new apprentices.
The core values of OCP focused on safety, continuous improvement and respect. To the management team at OCP, and at a vast majority of AWCI member companies, safety is not a goal that you reach, but a mindset that starts at the top and when done right, permeates to every employee. Part of continuous improvement is continuous learning, which starts with the new employee orientation and never stops. Safety is part of this continuous learning, including new safety practices when new tools are used or new procedures are implemented. And respect is an important part of the safety culture: not only respecting forepersons and management, but respecting co-workers and new hires enough to let them know that their voice is valued.
The second peer safety review of 2024 at PCI included a review of PCI’s core values, safety being one of them, and how they work to instill these core values throughout the company while allowing flexibility for the regions to do what it takes to be profitable, safe and a preferred place to work.
While PCI celebrates wins and recognizes accomplishments, they also review analytics and telematics to measure the effectiveness of their programs and hold themselves accountable when they fall short of expectations. One region started a practice of having the leadership of the region walk jobs as a group and talk about “Nothing but Safety” (NBS). The region has had a significant reduction in incidents and severity since the adoption of NBS walks.
Mike Hill with PCI facilitated and coordinated interviews with 16 individuals; some worked at PCI headquarters and included PCI’s CEO and COO, as well as their general manager and superintendents from their Kansas City branch. The review was primarily of the Kansas City branch and included tours of the new branch office, “Project Kansas” (a large facility for Panasonic) and the University of Kansas football stadium.
More information on these peer safety reviews will be shared from the Safety and Health Committee, PCI and OCP on a live webinar January 29, 12:00 pm ET. Learn more and register today: www.awci.org/education/webinars.