EMPOWERED EMPLOYEES DRIVE OUR SAFETY SUCCESS
BY JASON ALLEN
A company is nothing without the employees who strive day in and day out to do their very best. Doing their very best in quality project execution, but most importantly doing their very best to create a safe work environment. At Contech we empower our employees to help create that safe work environment by encouraging them to have the courage and compassion to speak up when they see their team members having a lapse in awareness or judgement that could cause an unsafe outcome. See something, say something. No negative repercussions for doing the right thing.
Constant emphasis on safety is key to maintaining our employees’ feeling of empowerment. Safety training is an ongoing process at Contech. Through daily morning safety kickoff meetings and a prescribed 52-week issue specific program we keep safety at the front of everyone’s mind.
Contech has grown substantially since new ownership began in 2015. With that growth comes the need to go outside your core group to find new employees, new employees who are not familiar with the Contech way or new employees to the industry in general. To get our new employees to that empowered mindset we implement our Short Service Employee (SSE) program. New SSEs are assigned a mentor to ensure they learn all the required aspects of their job. SSEs are mentored for a minimum of six (6) weeks, using our Short Service Weekly Standards Guide. The guide addresses specific procedures and requires them to master them before they are released to the regular work environment.
To be as responsive as possible Contech uses our Master Audit Process System (MAPS) app. It’s an electronic safety auditing system that allows auditors the ability to enter safety observations through any smart phone or computer. With all safety observations being entered through an electronic device, safety trends and data are calculated in real-time and can be viewed by everyone that participates in the system. This real-time format has allowed our organization the ability to respond more quickly to action items found minutes after the observation. Graphs and participation numbers are calculated in real-time as well, allowing for information to be distributed faster and more effectively to crews and clients alike.
Life saving rules are a large part of our safety culture. They provide the basis for our employees’ understanding of what we deem is important to keep them safe and the basis for their accountability. Our life saving rules demand compliance with working at heights, confined space, isolation of energy, permitting, line of fire, safety controls and driving. Violating any of our life saving rules can be fatal and can be the cause for us to part ways with an employee who knowingly ignores them.
I’ve been with Contech since the new ownership change and I’ve seen a workforce that has proven to have a high level of safety awareness, concern for their fellow team members and the feeling of empowerment to see something and say something. Our safety record has remained enviable even as we continue to grow. I’m proud of our employees in many ways but most proud of their attitude toward maintaining a safe work environment. We believe that safety is a value, not a priority. Priorities can change but values don’t.
