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Building a Culture of Safety atConstruction Companies

Multi-tasking has evolved from a talent to a necessity to maintain the pace of everydayproductivity. Whether an employee is talking on a cell phone while working or not wearinghis/her personal protective equipment, many workers have placed themselves and other atneedless risk to save time or be more comfortable. The bottom line is that the majority ofconstruction accidents are not due to a lack of training, skill or knowledge nearly allaccidents are simply related to poor decision-making.

This article will take a comprehensive look at building a culture of safety based on gooddecisionmaking and will examine the philosophy, accountability, and structure needed todevelop a successful construction safety program.

When Employees Know Better, But Don't Do Better

Think back to the person who taught you the first safety rule: Possibly, it was your mothergiving you a warning about a hot stove (Hot, don't touch!). When most people are pushedinto a decision, they are more likely to rebel against it, until they truly understand therationale and risk behind the decision. The "it could never happen to me" attitude fills upemergency rooms throughout the United States on a daily basis with serious injuries, manyof them life-threatening.

Sadly, carelessness in the workplace and the pressure to produce tend to go hand in handand, in some cases, are rewarded. Too oft en, it is easier for a foreman to turn a blind eyeand cross his or her fingers when observing a safety rule being violated than to slow downthe process with enforcement, follow-through, and responsibility. Time, effort, comfort, andpeer pressure are the foremost reasons employees commit unsafe acts when they know

better but don't do better. Many employees don't like being required to attend safety trainingsessions or, in some cases, obey safety rules. Many construction companies establishsafety as a top priority but send mixed messages when something more important bumpssafety to the back burner. Employee safety should be a value and a lifestyle, with a 24/7approach.

Accountability for ActionsThe superintendent, foreman, and lack of company training efforts are ultimatelyresponsible for sustaining a culture that "permits" unsafe behavior. If there is noconsequence for violating company safety rules, no way to enforce the safety program, and

no program to point to any bottom-line accountability, a major change in the existingprogram needs to be implemented. Specifically, there are three key pillars of an effectiveconstruction safety program:

1. Commitment from senior management2. Active implementation of a formal safety program led by midmanagement (i.e., foremanor superintendent)3. Employee involvement and practice through example and demonstration, not directives

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It's not enough to make safety a priority. Safety must become an inherent company valuebecause priorities always change, and such a commitment always begins at the top. Allindividuals want to succeed, best echoed by the old saying, "What interests my boss,fascinates me."

The term "accountability" typically tags along with a negative connotation of punitive or

disciplinary action. In a compliance context, this word translates to everyone's owningresponsibility for individual safety. There are three types of accountability:

1. Personal accountability2. Peer accountability3. Management accountability

How a Company Demonstrates Its CommitmentWhile conventional wisdom says employees criticize companies that impose strongdisciplinary actions toward safety measures, the opposite is usually the case. Constructioncompanies with a high regard for safety demonstrate a greater level of care and concern foremployee well-being. When safety standards break down, serious injuries or even fatalitiescan occur, leaving families shattered due to carelessness and irresponsibility. Some of themost hazardous issues include:

Falls Struck or caught by Electrical

While slips, trips, and strains may happen, fatalities and serious injuries are real andtypically are related to one of the three areas above. For example, what would happen ifthere were no police to monitor traffic on the roads? You'd have a recipe for disaster. Thesame principle holds true with safety measures on a construction site. Cost and productivitycorrelate directly with companies that demonstrate a strong baseline safety program led byfront-line supervision and employee participation. Safety becomes part of the job it'suniversal.

Zero ToleranceCompanies need to have highly detailed safety procedures in place, ensure and account foremployee training and awareness, and ultimately use a zero-tolerance policy for anyviolations. Employers must create a system of accountability that includes:

Thorough training Strong policy Documentation Accountability to follow through with safety rules

To look at it another way, many construction companies may terminate an employeebecause of excessive tardiness or theft , while overlooking a serious breach in safety rules.

Yet safety deals directly with physical well-being, including guarding against serious injuryor fatal accidents. Therefore, employers need to address the issue of safety both severelyand consistently. Confrontation may be unpleasant, but an employee may never get asecond chance to do his or her job safely if proper compliance measures are not takenseriously.

Emphasizing What's Really Important

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Safety is about creating an environment where employees want to be safe because it's theright thing to do.

Asked, "What are the top three most important things in life?" and employees commonlyanswer:

1. Family2. Faith3. Health"If someone were to say that he/she would hurt a member of your family, what would youdo?" Most people would do anything in their power to stop that from happening. Safetyvalues, whether at work or at home, have the power to protect or ruin your family, faith, andhealth. If an unsafe action were to undermine any one of these values, would shaving offafew extra minutes by not putting on protective equipment or skipping steps through a safetyprocedure still seem as important in its possible consequence? Safety shouldn't be a "haveto," it should be a "want to."

Preparing an Effective Safety Program

At my company, FDRsafety, we recommend the following to establish a successful safetyinitiative:

Action items for top management Safety begins first with top management: focus on visual concepts, not just words. Create a program that makes sense to management and workers. Identify where issues exist and implement a program that serves best. Fully understand the responsibility and requirement to wear personal protective equipment.

Encouraging a culture of safety Encourage employee involvement and feedback. Develop a safety committee with the authority to create and implement changes. Select an employee from the workforce to function as a fulltime safety coordinator with the

responsibility of making safety changes without disciplinary authority.

Safe and EfficientWhile the construction industry has progressed dramatically in increased productivity andquality, the on-site injuries are more prevalent, especially in the media. FDRsafetyencourages a holistic approach to safety on construction sites. We believe a constructionwork site can have quality work, be productive, and have an effective safety program at thesame time.

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Local litreture

Dealing with Construction Permits Methodology

Doing Businessrecordsall procedures required for a business in the construction industry to build a warehouse(figure 1). These procedures include obtaining and submitting all relevant project-specificdocuments (for example, building plans, site maps and certificates of urbanism) to theauthorities; hiring external third-party supervisors, engineers or inspectors (if necessary);obtaining all necessary clearances, licenses, permits and certificates; submiting all requirednotifications; and requesting and receiving all necessary inspections (unless completed by aprivate, third-party inspector). Doing Businessalso records procedures for obtainingconnections for water, sewerage and a fixed landline (following the inclusion of gettingelectricity indicators in the ease of doing business index in Doing Business 2012, additionalprocedures, time and cost related to obtaining an electricity connection in thepreconstruction stage were removed from the dealing with construction permits indicatorsthis year to avoid double counting). Procedures necessary to register the property so that itcan be used as collateral or transferred to another entity are also counted. Thequestionnaire divides the process of building a warehouse into distinct procedures andsolicits data for calculating the time and cost to complete each procedure. The ranking onthe ease of dealing with construction permits is the simple average of the percentilerankings on its component indicators (figure A.1).

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A procedure is any interaction of the companysemployees or managers, or any party acting on behalf of the company, with externalparties, including government agencies, notaries, the land registry, the cadastre, utilitycompanies and public inspectorsor the hiring of private inspectors and technical expertsapart from in-house architects and engineers. Interactions between company employees,such as development of the warehouse plans and inspections conducted by employees, arenot counted as procedures. But interactions necessary to obtain any plans, drawings orother documents from external parties, or to have such documents approved or stamped byexternal parties, are counted as procedures. Procedures that the company undergoes to

connect to water, sewerage and telephone services are included. All procedures that arelegally required, or that are done in practice by the majority of companies, to build awarehouse are counted, even if they may be avoided in exceptional cases (table 21.4).

TimeTime is recorded in calendar days. The measure captures the median duration that localexperts indicate is necessary to complete a procedure in practice. It is assumed that theminimum time required for each procedure is 1 day, except for procedures that can be fully

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completed online, for which the time required is recorded as half a day. Althoughprocedures may take place simultaneously, they cannot start on the same day (that is,simultaneous procedures start on consecutive days), again with the exception ofprocedures that can be fully completed online. If a procedure can be accelerated legally foran additional cost and the accelerated procedure is used by the majority of companies, thefastest procedure is chosen. It is assumed that BuildCo does not waste time and commits tocompleting each remaining procedure without delay. The time that BuildCo spends ongathering information is ignored. It is assumed that BuildCo is aware of all buildingrequirements and their sequence from the beginning.

CostCost is recorded as a percentage of the economys incomeper capita. Only official costsare recorded. All the fees associated with completing the procedures to legally build awarehouse are recorded, including those associated with obtaining land use approvals andpreconstruction design clearances; receiving inspections before, during and afterconstruction; obtaining utility connections; and registering the warehouse property.Nonrecurring taxes required for the completion of the warehouse project are also recorded.

Sales taxes (such as value added tax) or capital gains taxes are not recorded. Nor aredeposits that must be paid up front and are later refunded. The building code, informationfrom local experts and specific regulations and fee schedules are used as sources for costs.If several local partners provide different estimates, the median reported value is used.