Top 3: Strategies to Build a Safety Culture + Trends to Watch

By Jack Cain

It’s common knowledge construction is dangerous work. Over the years, the industry has built an extensive knowledge base consisting of safety do’s and don’ts. But when it comes to protecting people, it’s not enough to implement safety practices and post them on a wall. Today’s contractors must reinforce safety as the No. 1 priority by fostering a workplace culture that demonstrates care for its employees and their families, fellow craftspeople on the job and its customers. This can be accomplished by employing the following three strategies: 1) education and training, 2) implementing addiction and mental health support programs and 3) employing technology to improve safety.

1) Education + training

Whether you develop an internal program, or leverage external training, encouraging employee improvement is an effort that pays off for the entire organization. On the jobsite, safety should be addressed in daily briefings and huddles. This is an ideal time to share new guidelines and/or safety tips with the crew, as well as test equipment safety. Routine training ensures safety is at the forefront at all times.

2) Addiction + mental health support

According to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, the construction industry ranks No. 2 for the highest incidents of substance-use disorder cases among adults, and has the third-highest rate of suicide according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Having someone on a jobsite under the influence of drugs or alcohol is obviously dangerous, but consider an employee with a loved one at home dealing with substance abuse or mental illness.

Our company has partnered with a local organization to offer mental health and substance abuse services to employees and their families, with a goal to provide help with zero strings attached, and with complete anonymity. It is important to remove as many barriers as possible to ensure employees seek the assistance they need. In addition to employee meetings to review available services, we also communicate through a mailing program that highlights common stressors and provides tips and resources for employees and their families.

3 Safety Trends to Watch Smart personal protective equipment According to the latest market research report by Technavio, the global smart personal protection equipment market is expected to post a compound annual growth rate of over 16% during 2019-23. Examples of smart PPE include multi-functional protective clothing that protects workers from various hazards, as well as worksite clothing with sensors that monitor, collect and record biometric, location and movement data in real time. Autonomous vehicles 2020 will see a sharp rise in connected jobsites, according to the National Electrical Contractors Association. Not only does this include the advancement of artificial intelligence on the jobsite, but also the use of autonomous vehicles to provide transportation to and from worksites that have limited or no parking availability for workers. PPE that reflects workers’ personal preferences These include personal protective equipment that take into account workers who have facial hair; e.g., looser-fitting respirators; gloves that provide increased comfort and lighter fabrics and special textiles that allow clothing to meet safety standards, as well as provide style, comfort and higher employee satisfaction.

3) Data-driven strategies for safety

Technology also plays a critical role in keeping construction workers out of harm’s way. It’s crucial to adopt the right technologies to collect, process and collaboratively share the sheer volumes of data that each project generates — everything from daily huddle information, to tracking worker training and certifications, to safety reports and logging of safety incidents. Cloud-based, end-to-end construction management software platforms can provide integrated functionality to help remove silos to get everyone working on the same page — with the same data. For example, data from every incident — a first aid incident, auto accident or personal injury — can be tracked without spending needless time rifling through paperwork, and allows the ability to identify trends. Recently, data helped us spot a trend involving razor knives. Employees experiencing frequent cuts informed a replacement of knives with new tools that were not only safer, but permitted employees to work faster and increase production.

Technologies can also help eliminate the potential for safety incidents by removing humans from harm’s way. For instance, drones and robotics are fast-becoming a popular means to collect data or handle dangerous tasks without the need for human hands. In our company, we’re using surveying equipment to streamline workloads, reduce stress for crews and increase accuracy. Scanning, imaging and surveying technology allows teams to lay off points for fixtures, stop ups, placement, gear and pretty much anything that needs to be placed on a jobsite—which minimizes work hours and travel time around the jobsite.

Prefabrication is another move that can increase both safety and production. By building out a prefabrication department, work typically performed on dangerous jobsite settings can move in-house to a controlled environment. Building out standard units and materials in-house, ahead of time, can boost production on jobsites and further reduce the number of safety incidents in the field.

Bottom-line benefits

Developing a strategic approach to safety will result in a significant reduction of injuries and labor hours otherwise lost to safety incidents. Meanwhile, technology and automation can save thousands of labor hours and allow workers to better focus when on the jobsite. Additional benefits include:

• Significantly reduced workers’ compensation payouts and insurance costs
• Projects completed faster and with higher quality
• Happier employees and higher retention rates
• Reputation and safety track record helps win more business
• Increased recruitment of new talent

 

Safety doesn’t begin and end at the jobsite. As an ongoing priority, it’s vital that companies continually look for ways to create, support and improve the overall safety and well-being of its workers. These efforts can foster a workplace culture that, ultimately, will produce an entire industry known for safety.

Jack Cain serves as Encore Electric’s director of health and safety. For more info, visit encoreelectric.com.