Photo courtesy of Centennial Contractors Enterprises Centennial Contractors Enterprises checks the safety skills of new employees before they work in the field.

Centennial Contractors Enterprises believes that a well-educated workforce reduces accidents and fosters a culture of safety. The company has a comprehensive training program for all its employees.

Each employee, including office and administrative staff, is required to take OSHA 30 training every three years. Centennial imposes a three-year shelf life on OSHA 30 because it believes that continual training on standards and expectations is necessary to maintain safe and productive job sites.

OSHA 30 is just the foundation of Centennial’s safety program, and this AGC Safety Team member builds on that constantly.

Centennial holds an annual safety day and a weeklong safety training event. This year the multifaceted program included CPR, first aid and defibrillator requalification, an excavation competent-person class, flagging and temporary traffic control training and certification, and qualified rigger and signalperson training.

To ensure these and other training activities reflect the needs and wants of its workforce, they are coordinated by Centennial’s safety committee. Its safety committee is the company’s mechanism to make sure management hears what employees have to say about the Centennial culture, and their ideas for improvements to safety processes. The safety committee brings real-life issues to the table, and the Centennial management team is responsible for addressing employee safety concerns.

New hires at Centennial receive in-depth training from project safety managers or officers. This orientation covers Centennial’s safety policies and procedures, expectations, requirements and disciplinary policies. Employees then travel to Centennial’s home office near Washington, D.C., for a week of orientation that includes additional formal safety training.

Centennial conducts informal awareness audits with new employees before they work in the field to ensure they have the required skills to function safely. If any shortcomings are detected, a Centennial safety team member assists each employee until his or her skill level is proficient.