“Years ago, if you were efficient or fast, people would say, ‘Oh, well, you must be unsafe.’ Nowadays, that’s not the case,” said Jamie Evans, senior safety manager at Turner Construction Company. “You can be safe, efficient, fast, and have good quality.”
Safety is a top priority for Turner, and the multinational company has developed and implemented many practices to avoid hazards of construction: falls, electrocution, and “struck by” and “caught between” accidents.
Here are six safety practices that help keep Turner’s workers safe and its business thriving.
1. Safe Staffing
One of the first things Turner does to ensure safety on a job site is to hire subcontractors who share the same safety protocols as Turner does. In addition to looking for safe practices, Turner’s prescreening process for qualified subcontractors includes having the right safety insurance modification.
“There is no time to ramp up a safety program” at the start of each project, said Special Projects Division manager Meaghan Hooper-Berdik. “We have to hit the ground running all the time, and the subcontractors that we work with are used to that.”
2. “Ladders Last” Policy
Because one-third of fatalities in the construction industry result from falls,[1] falls from ladders pose a serious risk on job sites. Turner’s “ladders last” policy makes ladder use a last resort to help minimize these risks. Instead, workers use platforms or stairways to avoid using straight ladders. “This has gone over surprisingly well with workers in the field,” said Evans, “and we’re seeing a production increase.”
3. Safety Stand-Downs
Effective communication plays a crucial role in making sure Turner, its subcontractors, and their workers are all on the same page when it comes to safety practices. The company hosts a company-wide “safety stand-down” to share practices related to a key safety messages with employees around the company, and regular safety stand-downs are also held on job sites to ensure proper pre-task planning and share tips for health and wellness.
Jim Giuliano, a project manager at Turner, also takes extra care to keep the on-site safety manager updated. “If I can keep the safety person aware of where I’m going and what I’m doing, then they’re thinking ‘in front of me’ of the safety risks associated with the work,” he said.
4. Nothing Hits the Ground
No matter how light or heavy the object, repeated lifting can be harmful to workers. To prevent strain injuries on Turner’s construction sites the company minimizes the amount of lifting required. The use of mobile carts to move tools and collect materials helps, as does raising the heights of work surfaces on-site.
5. Building Off-Site
Prefabricating certain materials and structures before bringing them to the job site increases both efficiency and safety. Building Information Modeling (BIM) technology aids this process by letting subcontractors see how the parts of a structure fit together in advance and plan their building process accordingly. Using BIM to prefabricate materials aids in training and communication with subcontractors and allows some of the work to be done in more controlled environments, away from the risks of the job site.
6. Rewarding Safe Behaviors
Putting sound policies in place is only one step in a successful safety program. To ensure that employees and partners follow them, Turner rewards safe behaviors, an approach the company has found more effective than penalizing accidents. On one job site, for example, a safety superintendent named Molly offers homemade baked goods to the person who makes the greatest contribution to safety on the job site. By focusing on the positive, Turner helps create a sense of camaraderie on the job site and boosts morale.
For Turner and its partners, safety is about more than adhering to regulations or filing insurance claims. Safety practices improve employee wellness, strengthen communication, streamline construction processes, and build a culture that contributes to success.
“Safety is of the utmost importance for Turner,” said Vice President and General Manager Lisa Ballantyne. “It is really our number one thing.”
[1] The Center for Construction Research and Training. (n.d.). Retrieved July 12, 2014, from http://stopconstructionfalls.com
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