Alberici Constructors
Construction
St. Louis, MO
1,000 employees | 50 sites | 12 EHS professionals
The first words new employees of Alberici Constructors hear at orientation is that safety is front and center. “Safety is our way of life,” says Kathleen Dobson, safety director. “There is no such thing as work and safety—there’s only working safely.”
In fact, at new-hire orientation, every employee is told that they are empowered and authorized to stop work if they believe it is not safe, says Dobson.
Additionally, employees are encouraged to provide feedback during walk-throughs and area auditing. They are encouraged to seek additional training and are recognized for these efforts at weekly calls and safety stand downs.
Active involvement in safety is the foundation of the company’s safety programs called SafeRing, which has four principles: plan, communicate, observe and improve. There is a SafeCap (Critical Activities Process) program. Additionally, the company looks at the effects of safe work and management of change in building out its safety program.
Managers have their own set of expectations. “Our safety management program is a part of their management responsibilities, not a separate program siloed away from other responsibilities that our managers have,” says Dobson.
Managers are held accountable for safety protocols for both their projects and people on the project. In fact, they sign a safety commitment to the project.
Dobson says the SafeRing process can be used as a tool for many aspects of work, such as estimating and bidding, look-aheads and project communication. It can also be employed in communication with owner-clients as well by using it as a lessons-learned upon project completion.
The company continually improves the program and looks at the breadth of risks involved on a site. They have pre-start huddles and reconvene mid-shift to review and address any unexpected challenges. Field management, safety professionals and tradesmen/women combine efforts to participate in developing pre-work/pre-task job safety analysis.
To ensure that issues found on the site get reported, the company has a hotline number which is visibly posted on all projects. This allows employees to report unsafe acts, conditions or other situations which place themselves or others at risk (such as workplace violence, bullying, harassment, etc.).
The key to the company’s success, says Dobson, is that its safety culture “sets us apart from others and focuses our processes on management engagement and participation as well as worker involvement in our overall safety program and expectations.” This is the second time Alberici has been awarded the America’s Safest Companies award (the first time was in 2013).
