By Andrew Salvadore, CSP, Corporate Safety Manager

Henkels & McCoy’s overall safety performance has improved nearly 25% each year over the last three years. This would not have been possible without the strong, consistent commitment to and support of our Safety Transformation efforts as personified by:

• A shared Vision and Commitment with Guiding Safety Principles
• A belief and principle that all injuries are preventable
• Executive Safety Council (ESC), Regional Executive Steering Teams (REST), Area Safety Teams (AST) that meet regularly
• Process Improvement Teams
• 20,000+ Safety Coaching Observations (conversations and commitments to work safely)
• The publishing and sharing of more than 120 Lessons Learned
• Training of all company drivers in the company’s Driving Safely Program
• The investigation of all incidents
• Companywide incident awareness notifications and a comprehensive Incident Investigation Process
• New Employee Safety Orientation Video with Brochure
• Regional Safety Leadership Summits

There are many other activities that employees have been involved with over the last three years. Their commitment to working safely and being actively engaged has been essential to our continued positive safety performance.

It is a team effort that makes safety work. Everyone at Henkels & McCoy must actively care for each other — leadership must be “felt.” When others know you care, they will care to listen. It is this active caring that enables the reduction and ultimate elimination of at-risk behaviors. Take a moment, watch someone work, and help them be injury free. All of our efforts have contributed to Henkels & McCoy’s safety success to date, and for this everyone deserves a THANK YOU! This thank you also extends to our families, subcontractors, and customers. Without everyone’s support, something would have fallen through the cracks.

As part of our continued Safety Transformation journey, we recently completed another Employee Perception Survey. This survey was conducted to better understand and validate our safety culture. The last time we conducted a perception survey was in November of 2008. Your responses and candid comments on these surveys, then as well as now, act as another tool and guide in determining the direction of our safety efforts.

The results from this survey will be ready in the next few months and shared with everyone. It is important that we learn from the past so we can build on our successes. We must also learn from and sidestep our failures. The opposite of success is not failure, but simply “not trying.”

One of the core values of Henkels & McCoy is “Responsibility and Accountability – Lead by Example. If we make a mistake, we admit it, correct it, learn from it, and move ahead.” These are words of wisdom we can all live by.

Remember, it is Henkels & McCoy’s Safety Vision to be the safest contractor in the markets we serve and fulfill our goal and daily mission of Nobody Gets Hurt!