Photo courtesy AGC of Washington Wilder employees take five minutes before starting work to discuss safety and production goals.

Wilder’s philosophy is a strong safety program starts with an effective safety orientation for new employees.

New employees watch a company produced video describing key safety policies, review the safety handbook with their supervisor, and review specific jobsite requirements with a member of the safety department. Before the employee starts work, he/she is made aware that working safely is a performance expectation and that it is the responsibility of all Wilder employees.

Each employee is made to feel welcome and given a management contact they can call for any issues.

Over the last two years Wilder has successfully implemented two new safety programs. The DuPont STOP program, also known as the Safety Training Observation Program, improves safety by having supervisors engage in one-on-one dialog with each employee to reinforce observed good safety behaviors and correct unsafe behaviors.

The company also uses the Take 5 program, which is a daily planning tool where each supervisor takes five minutes with his/her crew at the start of the shift to discuss safety and production goals for the day’s work. Written documentation for each of these programs is collected to measure engagement levels to ensure effectiveness.