Contractors cooperate to improve safety

By SAMANTHA LIPOMA
Approach Management

In the construction industry, companies and organizations alike put competition and differences aside when it comes to worker safety.

"Providing a safe workplace results in quality productivity and assures each worker that he or she will go home safely to his or her family everyday," said Mike Sotelo, human resources/safety vice president, W.G. Clark Construction.

'If we can address the industry's culture of thinking that asking for help when lifting a heavy object makes you a wimp, then we have done our job.' - Dick Wilskey, D.W. Close Company

As the construction industry currently stands, it is no longer cost-effective to cut corners where safety is concerned when bidding for a job. Nor is it acceptable for contractors to simply ignore safety.

Some general contractors are now requiring all subcontractors who work on their jobsites to have an accident-prevention plan and to enforce it or be labeled a company that doesn't recognize the importance of a safety program. Such a label can be defeating in a bid-type setting. The lowest bidding subcontractor no longer wins if its incidence of jobsite accidents is high.

In an age when general contractors are ultimately responsible for the safety of their jobsites, companies are coming together and pooling their resources to make sure each employee has been properly trained and has the safety equipment necessary for each job no matter how small or profitable a company is.

Labor, management and government are putting aside their differences and making safety their common bond as well. The unlikely trio of these three entities, which include labor unions, trade association leaders, company managers, CEOs and the Department of Labor and Industries, have come together under the collective goal of keeping workers safe.

The Puget Sound Area Construction Safety Summit (PSACSS) was originally formed to offer inexpensive, safety training to companies who could not afford such training. It is also one organization that has played an important role in bringing all facets of the industry together through its special programs and its free, monthly training seminars.

"The Summit was started to enable the smaller contractors and subcontractors in the community to obtain safety training and advance their loss-prevention efforts with minimal costs," said Mark Hendricks, cofounder of PSACSS.

The PSACSS, in its effort to provide a common meeting place and no-cost training, has sponsored such special programs as "Washington State Construction Safety Day" declared on Jan. 10, 1996, by former-governor Mike Lowry.

The PSACSS also holds an annual event in September to celebrate the industry's safety alliance. Industry leaders and company CEOs come together to discuss the future of the industry and on-going work needed to make the construction industry a safe one. Other special programs have included a one-day conference on construction ergonomics sponsored by the Washington State Labor Council and the Carpenters' Health and Safety Fund and a mobile crane safety program sponsored by the St. Paul Companies.

These programs are in addition to the PSACSS's free monthly training conference which covers a different construction safety topic on the second Wednesday of every month.

Following the lead of the Puget Sound Area Construction Safety Summit, companies like Pacific Star Roofing/Action Gutter Service and D. W. Close Company, Inc. are covering the cost of safety training not only for their own employees, but also any workers on a common jobsite.

These companies demonstrate an attitude that transcends the competitive nature of their industry by offering safety training, at their expense, to the employees of other subcontractors and general contractors.

"Keeping jobsite accidents to a minimum and demonstrating to generals that we are serious about safety is part of the job we sign on to do," said Tim Rizzo, office manager, Pacific Star Roofing.

Recently Pacific Star Roofing hosted a fall-protection seminar with training by our firm. The seminar was offered at no charge to Pacific Star Roofing's employees as well as to employees of any other companies who wished to attend.

D.W. Close Company, an electrical contractor, also opens its training, whether in-house or at jobsites, to any interested workers.

"Our approach to safety is to try to get our employees to take ownership in safety as opposed to a dictatorship attitude coming from management," said Dick Wilskey, president, D. W. Close Company, "If we can address the industry's culture of thinking that asking for help when lifting a heavy object makes you some sort of wimp, then we have done our job. This type of attitude epitomizes the culture in the construction industry."

Officials at both of these companies encourage their employees to attend training workshops outside of the ones their company offers. Such attitudes about safety and concern for workers makes Pacific Star Roofing and D. W. Close Company models in an industry that, according to the Department of Labor and Industries, has experienced a rate of 10.1 job-related injuries for every 100 full-time workers in 1994 and 1995.

By putting competition aside in the name of safety, the construction industry can aim for a policy of zero injuries through accident prevention and safety training.

All PSACSS programs are free and open to the public. For more information or to add your name to the PSACSS mailing list, call (206) 626-0846.

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