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Job Site Safety Programs Reduce Injuries, Save Money
Implementing a written job site safety program prevents accidents and injuries, saves lives and safeguards your employees, trade contractors and clients from job site hazards. Implementing an effective safety program reduces your liability and the risk of litigation. An effective safety plan can also help protect your business and bottom line.
Implementing a job site safety plan can:
- Reduce workers’ compensation insurance and general liability insurance premiums
- Save you money on hospitalization costs, workers’ comp claims and OSHA fines
- Maintain the quality of the homes you build
- Uphold your company’s good reputation
- Keep your production schedule on track
- Improve employee morale and prevent turnover
Maintaining a good safety record for at least two or three years can reduce a company’s workers’ comp and general liability insurance (GLI) premiums by as much as 40%, according to Bill Thomas, safety and insurance specialist with National Safety Consulting in Chesterfield, Mo.
Statistics from the Home Builders Institute's Safety and Security course (part of HBI’s Residential Construction Superintendent Designation program) reveal that:
- 20% of the nation’s workplace fatalities occur in the construction industry.
- The construction industry has the highest number of occupational injuries (10%) of all industries.
- The cost of accidents accounts for approximately 6.5% of all construction dollars spent.
- The good news is that builders with an effective written safety program have 36% lower accident rates, on average.
Ten Steps to Safety
The following 10 steps will help sharpen your company’s safety focus:
- Leadership From the Top
The company owner must take an active role in developing and supporting a company-wide safety program and must communicate its importance to all employees.
“The CEO or owner should write a mission statement stating the company’s pledge to support the safety and health of its employees,” Thomas pointed out.
Among other things, the owner must provide adequate staff and budget to meet the company’s safety goals and objectives; hold supervisors accountable for success or failure in achieving specific safety performance and insurance cost control goals; participate periodically in employee safety tool box talks or other training; and review monthly field safety status reports.
- A Budget
The overall cost of a safety program is about 2.5% of direct labor costs, according to HBI. What you spend varies according to the safety resources you have on hand — your superintendents may already be CPR certified ― and what you need. Typical expenses include training, safety equipment, signage and first-aid kits.
If you are considering using a safety consultant to evaluate your sites and develop a program, be sure to include those fees in your budget.
In addition, budget for incentives. “Some companies give their employees coupons to restaurants or sporting goods stores if they remain injury-free,” said Thomas. “Have a good system to reward employees for properly following safety procedures. Otherwise, if the program depends solely on reporting injuries, it focuses on the negative.”
- A Safety Coordinator
Designate a staff person to be responsible for the company’s overall safety performance. Among those responsibilities, the coordinator must: personally conduct regular safety audits of the job site and correct hazards; participate in accident investigations, making recommendations on how to prevent them in the future; maintain and update any necessary OSHA records and Material Safety Data Sheets; provide every employee with a copy of the company’s safety and health program, policies and safe work practices; and ensure that each job site has the necessary safety equipment, information and materials, personal protective equipment, first-aid supplies and emergency telephone numbers.
That designated person also should have the authority to stop a project, if necessary.
“Sometimes you have to be a ‘bad cop’ about safety,” said Joe Horan, senior project manager for J. Barrows, Inc., a custom builder in Wainscott, N.Y. Horan administers his company’s safety program.
“I try to lead by example. If I see a board lying around with nails sticking out of it, I’ll pound them out of the board myself and tell the person who left it there why it’s dangerous.”
- Employee Discipline
You must require that all employees and contractors on your job sites follow the safety and health rules. Because there are some legal issues involved in disciplining employees, good documentation of procedures is critical.
In a typical approach to accountability and safety enforcement procedures, it should be understood that failure to pursue the goal of no losses from work-related injuries and illness could result in the termination of employment. Every employee must be held accountable for safety, and this should be reflected in retention, promotions, salary increases, bonuses and other benefits.
Employees who are reprimanded should have the opportunity to correct unsafe work practices and behavior. The reprimand should go into the employee’s personnel file. An employee warning about rule infractions should precede any further disciplinary action.
Reprimands can typically be issued for failing to wear proper protective equipment such as safety glasses; performing work in an unsafe manner; violating adopted safe work practices; and behaving in a way that puts others on the job at risk.
A verbal warning should be given to a worker, sub, vendor or invited guest the first time they violate the safety program, and the safety coordinator should receive a written report from the supervisor on the details of the violation and the resulting discussion.
A written reprimand should be issued for the second violation, and a third violation would result in dismissal. Invited guests or customers who repeatedly violate the company safety program should be asked not to return to the job site.
- A Written Safety Program
The program must include company-specific job site safety policies, regulations and procedures and other OSHA-specified items including procedures for reporting accidents and unsafe conditions, hazardous material communications and tool safety.
Rather than writing it yourself, available from BuilderBooks.com is the “Construction Safety Program Manual: a Guide for Home Builders and Contractors.” Prepared by NAHB’s Labor, Safety and Health Services, the guide provides practical information on how to develop a comprehensive safety program for your building company, and it provides the resources to implement that program without having to hire an additional employee.
Through the end of September, a new four-hour seminar on how to “Develop and Implement a Home Builder Safety and Health Management Program” is providing builders and trade contractors with information on how to develop and start up an effective program. The NAHB seminar is free thanks to funding from OSHA, and is being sponsored by home builders associations. Seminars are being held this week in Birmingham and Loxley, Ala.. Locations in September are Rocky Mount, N.C.; Lincoln, Neb.; Baltimore; Wasilla, Ark.; Orland Park, Ill.; and Oklahoma City, Okla. For more information from the NAHB Research Center, click here. This seminar will subsequently be offered by NAHB's University of Housing for a fee.
As another alternative, although a more expensive one, Lucy Katz, vice president of customer service and client development for Katz Builders in Austin, Texas, recommends having a consultant help write the safety program. “Don’t try to reinvent the wheel,” she said.
Katz hired Corona, Calif.-based Safety Services Company to write a customized safety manual for her company and to develop a series of weekly safety talks for her production crew and trade contractors.
Copies of the safety manual should be distributed to all your staff members and trade contractors. Have each recipient sign a form that acknowledges their receipt of the manual. This helps reinforce everyone’s responsibility to read and use the manual and to abide by your company’s safety program.
- Training
Make sure new employees receive job site safety training as part of their orientation. It’s particularly crucial that superintendents receive thorough training in specific job site safety procedures, OSHA regulations and first aid.
In some home building companies, superintendents also conduct safety training for other production staff and trade contractors.
HBI’s Residential Construction Superintendent Designation program, which includes a comprehensive module on safety and security, provides a solid basis for superintendent safety training.
Continuing education is important, too. Horan uses “NAHB Toolbox Safety Talks,” available through BuilderBooks.com, to conduct weekly talks with the company’s superintendents and trade contractors. When possible, tie the talks to a pertinent task. “I’ll look ahead at the schedule, and if we’re going to be doing a lot of lifting we’ll do a session on back safety,” he explained.
OSHA is an important training resource, as well. “Our safety program is very comprehensive and was designed with the aid of CAL/OSHA through a voluntary onsite program,” said Todd Leibl, president of Victory Homes in Arcadia, Calif. “It was mandatory that all of our employees and major trade contractors attend this work site training visit. We had a great learning experience.”
- A Modified or Early-Return-to-Work Program
This program allows an injured worker to do light or transitional duty (driving trucks until he has recuperated enough to install roofing, for example) as soon as a physician agrees that the worker can return to the job site.
“Early return to work keeps employees alert and in responsible ownership of their jobs,” said Thomas. “It’s a psychological thing.”
- Trade Contractor Compliance
An important part of your program is choosing subs that care about safety. Prequalifying subs, evaluating their safety history and requiring a safety and health program and workers’ compensation is one way to help keep your insurance and safety and health costs low.
Stress to your trade contractors that they must abide by your company’s safety program. If they don’t, they could endanger everyone on your job site and make you liable for OSHA citations.
“When we set someone up as a new trade, they get a copy of our safety policy and procedures,” said Katz. “When they are awarded the job, they must sign a copy of an agreement to comply with our safety program and send it back with the proposal.”
Katz also includes trades in the company’s weekly safety talks — and requires them to sign off on their participation. “We have peace of mind that we’re partnering with our trades one more time,” she said. “We help to educate trades while protecting ourselves, home owners and the trade contractors themselves.”
- Measurement and Evaluation
In addition to monitoring statistics ― Thomas recommends tracking lost work days as well as job site injuries ― periodically review your safety program with a safety committee consisting of your company’s safety administrator, superintendents, project managers and several field crew members. You may also want to ask trade contractors for their suggestions on how to fine-tune your safety program and its elements.
- Consistency
The elements of a safety program must work together. Implementing a single element isn’t as good as putting a comprehensive program in place, but it’s a start.
If you already have a job site safety program, be consistent in its application. “Don’t stop and start your program. Do it every day,” said Katz. “Ultimately, it’s about managing your business effectively.”
Safety Resources
To develop a job site safety program or improve your current one:
From BuilderBooks.com:
Consult NAHB’s Construction Safety & OSHA and Construction Safety & Health Committee resources.
Enroll your supers in the HBI Residential Construction Superintendent Designation program.
For more information on safety resources available from NAHB, e-mail George Middleton or call him at 800-368-5242 x8590.
The NAHB University of Housing Offers Job Site Safety Course The NAHB University of Housing now offers “Recognizing the Big Four Safety Hazards for the Home Building Industry.” The course is designed to teach builders how to recognize the four most common hazards on residential job sites, use safe work practices to reduce the risk of injuries and comply with OSHA regulations that apply to the home building industry. For more information and to find out where it is currently being offered, click here.
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