” We’re not perfect. Nobody in the business is great, but we have placed a great deal of focus on building a health lifestyle that’s profound, practical, and is real”, says Joe Rock, Vice President of Risk Management for Concrete Strategies.
With over 1, 000 employees globally, St. Louis, Missouri-based, Concrete Strategies is a full-service practical company with a global footprint and company of the national design-build company Clayco. They’ve been listed in the Top 20 Firms in Concrete by Engineering News Record for two years running ( #8 in 2022 and# 11 in 2021 ), was one of the Top 600 Specialty Contractors, and received the 2021″ Excellent In Achievement” Tilt-Up Achievement Award for their work on a$ 52 million, 160, 000 sq. foot. Benson Hill service in Creve Coeur, Missouri.
From a health point, the company has high expectations in terms of how people are to do. They refer to it as their “rules to dwell by.” This assumption starts with the senior management and spreads throughout the business, including the apprentice employee or carpenter, finishers, etc. ” Our objectives are that people are going to be physically responsible”, says Rock. Each individual is individually responsible for their own protection after receiving coaching and presenting each worker with personal protective equipment. They’ve integrated a straightforward procedure to deal with people who are putting themselves in danger of harm.
More reinforcing its security plan, the business has over 30 full-time security professionals on staff. Not only that, Concrete Strategies ‘ chairman, Pat Moriarty, and its professionals make it a point through their words and deeds while on job sites and meeting with employees. In a process what they call “management health reviews”, officials of the company may visit jobsites and join with the workplace via a two-way speech regarding what’s going well, the issues, the struggles, and explain what they can help with.
Health Strategies from Concrete Methods
- normal safety meetings that address issues raised before and the week ideas.
- Create a culture of safety in which employees can be alerted to risks and/or unsafe behaviors.
- If circumstances or behaviors are uncomfortable, grant stop-work authority.
- Invest in management education, for conversation, instruction, and guiding your crew
This demonstrates the administration commitment required to work for a company that places safety at the top of its priorities, according to Rock. The nation’s safest practical firm is what we want to be. And if we’re the safest firm in the country, we’ll get the safest material company in the world – that’s our goal”. Concrete Strategies has been recognized in 2022 by the American Society of Concrete Contractors as a” Four Star” company in their” Safety Training Assessment &, Recognition ( S. T. A. R. ) Program. one of the few people in the country to receive this honor. For the past two years and counting, Concrete Strategies ‘ recordable rate has been less than 50 % of the national average for the overall concrete industry.
There are a lot of ideas and actions that they go through each and every time. Using their present building project as an example, Josh Ross, Safety Manager of Concrete Strategies, St. Louis sector, says that one of their biggest continuous problems is making sure that workers are protected on the site at evening.
Since the initiative was next to a bridge and had to create a drop lane, control pedestrian traffic, and of course deal with the silica dust from chipping and drilling, they were using two tower cranes flying wall forms overtop of the job site, and people 20 to 30 feet in the air had to be tied off.
Each morning, explains Ross, the crews gather to conduct” stretch and flex “exercises. From there, the general contractor announces any issues they had the previous day, upcoming events, anything safety-related, where every trade will be working, and what they’ll be doing”. From there, we break off in a pre-task safety analysis ( PTSA ) huddle where we go through what we’re going to be doing that day, the hazards involved and what we’re going to do to mitigate those hazards, “he says.
Everyone can voice their opinions in these groups, with the more experienced workers sharing their experiences with new hands and the younger workers sharing their knowledge gained from other jobs. Eventually, notes are added to the PTSA. Everyone can participate because they control the scope of the work that day, he believes, because doing this makes everyone feel that way.
The team encourages anyone to report anything to them so they can be corrected, despite constantly looking to improve. We also have a program where everybody on the jobsite has’ stop work ‘ authority,” says Rock. This enables everyone to stop working if they believe there is an unsafe situation or behavior, from the most experienced superintended to the brand-new apprentice.
Leadership
The safety conversation is constant, and it starts from the top. Concrete Strategies places a particular emphasis on leadership training because everyone is in charge of their own safety and wants to lead by example. They’ve heavily invested time and money over the last few years for leadership training for field leaders, foremen, and superintendents. While great at their job, someone may not have the” soft skills” of leadership like how best to communicate, coach, mentor, and guide. A bi-weekly video series on leadership in the construction industry, a monthly meeting with speakers to discuss leadership, and a weekly call to address leaders ‘ key metrics and goals have been integrated into the company.
“]These ] initiatives have paid dividends. According to Rock, the development of our safety culture is also important for enhancing productivity and quality as well as the general alignment between senior management, field leaders, and the workforce.
Concrete Strategies has made a commitment to creating a culture of vibrant, safe living. As part of that commitment, when hiring safety professionals Rock looks for three qualities: passion for the work, ability to communicate effectively, and leadership skills.” When I first came here, we had just got to illustrate graphically. We had four fulltime sales professionals – we’re now up to 30,” says Rock”. Employing and maintaining employees is a difficult task in the construction industry at this time. We’re constantly looking for reliable safety professionals.
However, if a concrete construction company only has safety professionals who are concerned about safety, it wo n’t have much of a safety culture. You need coaches and people who are available who are subject matter experts who people can turn to when personnel have questions. In order to create a safety culture, you need people whose primary focus- everyday – is coaching for safety performance, not only the hazards.
The development of the company’s safety culture comes from two elements”. Top management has recognized that safety has a role to play and that it needs to be more than just safety professionals, according to Rock.” We need to have a real, vibrant, living safety culture.
The encouragement to suggest ideas is a part of their corrective and preventative action. They give away a$ 100 gift card for the best ideas they come up with every week. I have guys who bring issues up to me who we have to have fixed out on the field, Ross claims.
He continues”, We’ve had people stop work because of an unsafe condition. Just because you’re working safely does n’t mean that the people working next to you are. We had a worker stop plumbers]that ] were in an excavation over 10 ft. deep with no protection whatsoever. Our worker went over, stopped the work, and told the guy to get out of the hole. They brought it up to the attention of the contractor, who instructed the worker to do it in a safe, proper manner. Maybe saved that guy’s life.”
Another example of stopped work is when a superintendent notices that the crane road has been flooded and does n’t work until the rock is placed and stabilized; another is when one of their truck drivers stops plumbers from working close to panels that could be damaged or destabilized. These are things that]workers ] bring up to us, they feel confident in doing so,” Ross says.
Despite their effort, they are n’t working in a Nirvana where everything’s perfect on the concrete side of construction. The little things that add up to make a different kind of company are the ones that matter. That’s one of our goals. Our motto is’ More to the pour.’ And a part of that is that, according to Rock, we bring that safety component with us when we arrive at a jobsite.
Concrete Strategies uses EHS Insight, a mobile application to house all the company’s paperwork, policies, procedures, training, toolbox talks, etc. It’s where they document observations and record corrections.
Many construction companies may concentrate on well-known indicators like the OSHA recordable rate, Dart rate, insurance rating, and EMR. While Concrete Strategies does track these” lagging “metrics, they go a step further by looking at” leading “indicators such as safety audits, management involvement, training, and corrective and preventative actions.
” We are going to be compliant with all OHSA regulations, but I think we go above and beyond in many areas,” says Rock.
Documentation and communication are two of Concrete Strategies ‘ first steps in corrective and preventative actions. Writing a corrective action and EHS Insight, in Rock’s opinion, takes about two minutes. A small time commitment to protect both the site and the residents.
Rock believes that the work really begins at the top when contractors developing their own safety programs. Ownership must first and foremost involve the workers who oversee the work, and it must state that safety is top priority. Everyone else will do well if the person who signs the checks and the person who assigns the work every day show a high level of concern and concern for their employees.
Rock suggests speaking with their insurance company to get an audit and make recommendations for smaller contractors who might not have the budget to employ a full-time safety professional on staff. The cost of prevention greatly outweighs the price of lost production, workers ‘ compensation expenses, as well as the hidden costs like decreased morale.
” If it’s ]safety ] important to the people that run the company, it’s going to be important to the workers, “he says.
” And that does n’t cost a dime.”
