Safway Group Becomes Alliance Partner to Support

Company-wide Stand-down for Safety Planned

Advertisement

Safway became an alliance partner with The Construction Industry Safety Initiative and the Incident & Injury-Free Executive Forum, which together includes over 40 national and global construction firms, to inspire everyone in the industry to be leaders in safety during Safety Week, May 3 – 9, 2015. Additionally, Safway will continue to partner with the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Occupational Safety and Health Administration, The Center for Construction Research and Training on the second annual national initiative to prevent falls, the leading cause of work-related injury and deaths.

At every Safway Group jobsite across North America, safety personnel and managers will hold stand-downs during Safety Week 2015. “This is an opportunity for everyone who works for Safway to participate in discussions regarding fall prevention and safety initiatives,” said Paul Amedee, vice president of Environmental Health and Safety for Safway. “While Safway improved its Total Recordable Incident Rate by 22-percent in 2014, we never want to stop emphasizing safety as our No. 1 value. We are committed to continual improvement and setting even higher goals for ourselves in safety.”

The theme Safway developed for this year’s companywide stand-down is, I OWN SAFETY. “We wanted to emphasize the need for all of us to take personal responsibility for our own safety as well as the safety of our co-workers, customers and contractors,” explained Amedee.

In addition, Safway is planning to focus on the following critical areas during the Safety Week stand-down:

• Fall Prevention — Safway requires every employee to be protected from fall hazards, which includes a 100-percent tie-off, safe work practice policy.

• Stop Work Authority — When there is a situation where employees, equipment or the environment are at risk or in danger, every Safway employee has the authority to stop work immediately.

• Safety Observation Program — An important part of Safway’s 2015 safety plan is an observation program, which includes coaching and mentoring, conducting better observations, and providing timely tracking and sharing of trends.

“Thanks to our Safety Climate Perception Survey, which was conducted in December 2014, we now have a better understanding of Safway’s safety culture, where we can improve and what we need to focus on,” added Amedee. “This will allow us to keep improving our safety performance.”

During the companywide stand-down, all Safway employees will receive hardhat stickers, water bottles and bandanas with the “I OWN SAFETY” logo.