The Griffith Company Safety Program incorporates a special combination of industry best practice and real people dynamically devising industry first methods to solve age old problems in construction.
Many organizations engineer people and independent deliberation from the safe work processes they implement. Independent thought is dismissed in favor of uniformity in most organizations. While we recognize the value of conforming to basic standards of safety, we do not believe standardization of each process fits our work, or our culture. From our perspective, the ability to dynamically decide our work practices provides for a sound approach to our work and successful end results.
Commitment to Employee Knowledge Base
Every Griffith Company Employee receives world class instruction on how to perform their job safely. This begins with the daily and personal approach of our supervision.
New Employees
Every employee receives a company orientation and a field orientation. The orientation takes place over the course of the first 30 days of employment. Upon initial orientation completion, the employee is dispatched to the field with a high visibility green hard hat. This hard hat identifies the new employee as vulnerable and is more conspicuous than any other method we could think of. After 30 days the employee receives a follow-up orientation in the field to ensure critical knowledge expressed in their initial orientation has been retained.
Lessons Learned/Incident Investigation
We believe that failures in our system must be communicated. Our “Lessons Learned” process ensures that when mistakes are made, that they are thoroughly discussed with all levels of employment that are affected by the failed process. Lessons Learned document incorporates an incident re-enactment and summary of the incident. The concept of “Lessons Learned” relies on mistakes being explained to the point that they are not repeated. If an employee can recognize the causal factors visually, they are unlikely to repeat the same error.
Hazard Analysis
Task Hazard Analysis’s are developed on a daily basis to ensure that each day’s hazards are entirely encompassed in the days plan. We consider the daily and task specific approach more valuable than the procedure based versions of JHA’s in the workforce. Safety Meetings Tool Box Meetings are a mandatory function of most safety programs, we approach them with practicality. Each topic provided to our crews is either related to an incident or a trend observed in the field. By using the tool box meetings to address perceived deficiencies, we can effectively communicate our expectations to our crews.
Genuine Employee Engagement
We also believe that communication is a two way street, and are interested in our employee’s thoughts and concerns. We maintain an anonymous, conspicuously posted, hotline for reporting safety concerns. To enhance this process, we developed an app that incorporates voluntary or anonymous employee job observations. The app notifies appropriate management of a concern, and the affected business unit will receive appropriate recognition or guidance, whichever is appropriate.
Supervision and Management Involvement
Any safety program simply does not work without supervision and management involvement. Our processes require each supervisor and manager to be accountable for the performance of their business unit.
Hazard Recognition
Weekly Hazard Recognition Activities are performed by each and every foreman and superintendent. The observations are tracked to completion and are checked for quality. Griffith company supervision and management has the ability to record and share an observation using our cutting edge software management systems.
Foreman Level Safety Meetings
Division-Level Foreman Meetings are held on a bi-monthly basis. Each foreman and superintendent must attend one of these meetings. The agenda encompasses previous performances, future initiatives, and an open forum for discussion.
Executive Level Safety Meetings
Executive Safety Committee Meetings are also held on a bi-monthly basis. Executive management engages with top division managers to express safety performance for the year. A key aspect of this meeting is to demonstrate peer transparency. Top and sub-standard performers are conspicuously shared and discussed to a great extent in each of these meetings. Top performers are recognized for their value, and sub-standard performances are addressed publically to ensure accountability after the meeting adjourns.
Incident Management
Incident Notifications and Investigations are streamlined at Griffith Company. We have devised software designed exclusively for our use that effectively notifies appropriate management personnel when an incident has occurred. It also allows field supervision to conduct an incident investigation with their Smartphone.
World Class Safety Incentives
We strongly believe in merit based safety incentives. We do not reward our employees for lack of accidents; rather we identify safe behaviors that contribute to no losses. We grade our foremen based on their training attendance, their paperwork and their audit performance.