POWER February 2015 - 52

SAFETY
3. Elaborate access. Although most
power plant scaffolding jobs are not as complicated
as the U.S. Capitol dome restoration
project shown here, all involve the same safety
concerns. Scaffolding and fall protection are
two of OSHA's three most frequently cited
standards. Courtesy: Architect of the Capitol
4. Planning is critical to success. There are many safety items that must be addressed
when erecting a boiler scaffold, such as weight requirements, lighting needs, and overhead
hazards. Courtesy: Safway Services LLC
National Institute for Occupational Safety
and Health (NIOSH), and OSHA.
Safway's program focuses on eight objectives,
which are taken from the CPWR-produced
booklet, Strengthening Jobsite Safety
Climate: Eight Worksheets to Help You Use
and Improve Leading Indicators. The objectives
include:
■ Demonstrating management commitment.
■ Ensuring safety is aligned and integrated
throughout the company.
■ Requiring accountability at all levels.
■ Developing site leadership to facilitate a
strong safety climate.
■ Empowering employees to be involved in
all safety processes.
■ Communicating all safety matters proactively
and reactively.
■ Providing training at all levels, tailored to
specific roles and responsibilities.
■ Engaging with owners and/or clients on
safety planning, process, and culture.
Each of the objectives is assessed on a
five-level scoring scale indicating a maturity
ranking for the focus area. The five levels
are: uninformed, reactive, compliant, proactive,
and exemplary.
Part of the process of becoming exemplary
involves periodically assessing if the
company's espoused safety-related values
are aligned with other values, such as production
and cost reductions. Gathering both
quantitative (such as surveys and audits)
and qualitative (such as informal interviews
and focus groups) safety climate data from
workers and managers helps determine if
there is a gap between what the company
says about its safety values and what its employees
perceive.
" First and foremost, we believe that our
business leaders-starting with me-own
driving great safety, " said Bill Hayes, presi52
dent
and CEO of Safway Group. " We believe
positive and constant reinforcement of our
key safety messages is critical to fostering a
culture of safety. "
Part of that includes publishing its safety
metrics across its 95-branch network, because
Safway believes visibility of safety results
and accountability for safety performance is
essential. But Hayes says the most important
aspects are training frontline leaders, keeping
programs current, and staying up-to-date on
leading indicators.
Having the benefit of working with many
companies in various industries (Figure 3)
gives Safway the opportunity to see and
evaluate what other businesses are doing. It
says the best companies that it works with
are very proactive in task planning (Figure
4) and employee observation processes.
They are also very good at ensuring employee
accountability.
But in order to hold people accountable,
workers have to be properly trained. For
that, Safway has its own " Training University "
through which it has trained more than
40,000 employees and more than 40,000
customer and partner representatives, including
OSHA and other regulatory professionals.
Many of the company's initiatives are
designed to involve employees, who it says
have the power to stop work any time they
www.powermag.com
feel safety is compromised.
" Safety is in my blood, " says Hayes. " We
won't be near satisfied until we are at zero injuries. "
But even then, he suggests, there will
be more work to be done.
Bray agrees with Hayes' sentiment. He
says that ownership and top management
within companies need to sincerely and objectively
make safety a core value and not
just give it lip service.
" The bottom line is that if management
is not openly and obviously sincere about
managing safety within the organization,
the workers are going to pick up on that, "
Bray said.
For more information about the CPWR
safety initiative, see a copy of its booklet online
at: bit.ly/1zUrbxA.
Pay for Performance?
Many safety professionals object vehemently
when the topic of incentives is discussed.
Some say incentives encourage under reporting
and, logically speaking, certain types of
incentives can create conflicts of interest. If
workers receive monetary bonuses or awards
based on remaining below a certain number
of injuries for example, it is in their pocketbook's
best interest not to report incidents
unless absolutely necessary.
" The biggest problem with safety inPOWER
| February 2015

http://www.bit.ly/1zUrbxA http://www.powermag.com

POWER February 2015

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