Safety First
Southwest Contractor's Safest Contractors of the Southwest

By Scott Blair

Welcome to Southwest Contractor's second annual ranking of the Safest Contractors of the Southwest, recognizing the region's safest contractors and their ongoing dedication to keep jobsites safe for everyone.

 

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Based upon a recent survey of general contractor's, the firm with the lowest Experience Modification Ratio was DPR Construction, Inc. with a rating of .33. Each firm's EMR was voluntarily disclosed for this ranking. The safest contractor in Nevada was Kalb Construction Company, while Jack B. Henderson Construction Co., Inc. topped New Mexico.

The EMR is an industry factor used in Worker's Compensation Insurance, and is based on the employer's claim history and determined by the claims paid and reserved in the previous three years along with the audited premiums paid. The EMR is considered a fairly accurate reflector of a company's safety record, and is often used as a factor for prequalification by some owners during a project's bidding process.

One caveat is that larger firms have the ability to achieve a much lower EMR than an equally safe smaller firm without the larger premium (generated from its payroll) going into the calculation.

DPR Construction, Inc.

The commitment of every employee along with a thorough safety audit system helped propel DPR to receive the lowest EMR in both Arizona and the entire Southwest.

Hensel Phelps Construction Co. and Okland Construction also reported very good scores, ranking them second and third in Arizona, respectively.

"The whole project team is involved in safety, from our workers and management in the field to our office staff," said Janet Howe, safety professional for DPR Construction.

"We also get the subs involved, so everyone on the project is looking out for the safety of everyone else."

The firm treats safety as one of its core values.

"Two things we use the most right now are the electronic jobsite inspection process and the project consistency audit," Howe said. "The first is an electronic audit system using a Palm device that feeds into a database that allows us to identify real-time leading indicators - you want to be able to tell where the potential for your next accident lies."

The project consistency audit is a scorecard that rates how well DPR's safety plan is being implemented on each project. "We have found this to be directly proportional to the engagement and participation of our project management teams," Howe said. "At the end of the month, each team knows how they scored in relation to other jobs.

When the program was started, scores were in the 60's. Now project teams are unhappy if they score in the lower 90's."

"Every firm has a safety plan, but not all firms implement the plan in the field. This is our way of measuring how well the plan is implemented in the field by our project team members," Howe added.

However, the most important part of DPR's safety program isn't in the statistics, it's in the training and safety values instilled in each employee.

Howe advises, "Be concerned about sending your guys home at the end of the day safely, rather than worrying about the numbers - the numbers will take care of themselves."

Kalb Construction Company

Kalb was the safest contractor in Nevada with a rating of .45, which tied with Hensel Phelps as the second safest contractor of the entire southwest behind DPR. Martin-Harris Construction and M.J. Dean Construction, Inc. were runners-up for the safest in Nevada.

"If you can run a business without any accidents you are way ahead," said Sam Marshall, safety director for Kalb. "You can have lower premiums than normal and not have to worry about replacing someone who went home injured, your image in the industry looks better. Most important, we like our people and we like them better in one piece."

"We train our employees and supervisors well, and then we hold them accountable and reward them financially," Marshall said. All superintendents go through initial OSHA training, and then receive ongoing safety training with regular safety meetings.

"On the job site we have once-a-week tailgate meetings for our employees, and we also offer it to our subcontractors."

The firm holds regular safety inspections at each job site, and rewards both superintendents and field workers. "The first perfect score, we present the superintendent with a plaque," Marshall said. "Every time thereafter on that job we give them dinner for two, and then every two months without an accident on their watch, they are entered into a drawing". Three prizes of $1,000 are given out during the firm's December safety meeting.

"For our field workers, we have a drawing every two months for anyone not involved in an accident, and five of them each get $100," Marshall said.

Marshall's advice is to learn the regulations and pass along safety to anyone you hire, and expect them to do the same to each new employee. "Reward them and hold them accountable. You wouldn't believe what a boost for morale that is, and everyone feels more confident coming to work."

Jack B. Henderson Construction Co.

J.B. Henderson achieved the lowest EMR in New Mexico with a .62. The Jaynes Companies, Enterprise Builders and Michael S. Rich Contractors, Inc. were close behind.

"A true safety program followed by everyone is a behavior-based program," said Kerry Soileau, the firm's environmental health and safety director. "If you aren't safe outside of work you won't be safe inside. If you can change the fundamental behavior of an individual, they are on the right path to the ultimate goal of keeping everyone safe."

Safety has been ingrained since the 50-year old company's beginnings, but the program was formalized in the 1980's and the company has seen consistently low ratings for years. "We have revamped our safety committee so it is a more productive and efficient program, so if there are issues we can address them more quickly and get the data out to the field immediately."

The company believes that safety doesn't stop at the jobsite, and even holds summer safety fairs in addition to their regular training, focusing on the statistic that higher accident rates occur over the summer months.

"We've come to find out that if an employee gets hurt boating on the weekend, they can't come to work," Soileau said. "If we can train both the employee and their families, they can see what safety procedures are available to use around the house." This also helps at the workplace by showing the families what the employees are exposed to at the job site.

"One of the biggest compliments someone could give me is that they were at home in their garage over the weekend and they wore their safety glasses because of one of our safety programs," Soileau said.

 
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