Editor's Note: The 2024 class of America's Safety Companies will be recognized Tuesday, August 27 during the Safety Leadership Conference. More information about the conference, including registration, can be found at www.safetyleadershipconference.com.
Brieser Construction
Construction
Channahon, IL
200 employees | 1 site | 4 EHS professionals
The safety philosophy at Brieser Construction, a construction firm located just outside of the Chicago area, is to empower employees by providing them with the proper training, tools and equipment to do the right thing.
“We hire character, not skill sets,” explains Kevin Colwell, the company’s director of safety. “We can teach skills, but cannot change a person’s core values. Because working safely is our core value, we strive to align personnel we hire with that value set.”
Brieser is not a typical construction company. For one thing, it is a woman-owned entity, and as such inclusion of every race, gender and ethnicity is of paramount importance. The company also heavily emphasizes psychological safety in the workplace.
“Safety is much more than rules,” Colwell notes. “The rules give us the employees’ hands and feet—we also want their hearts and minds. We make it about the people who work here. Rules are easy. Getting to know how people interact with those rules is key to our success.”
Character, then, is definitely important at Brieser, but so too is training. Being involved in such intense workplace environments as petrochemical and energy, the company has invested heavily in various training modules. According to Colwell, when you factor in training required by clients as well as Brieser’s own training requirements, there are over 225 modules.
“The majority of our workforce go through no less than 20 Brieser-specified training sessions prior to starting work,” he points out, “and for those with tenure, most have 50-75 individual trainings under their belts.”
Formal corporate toolbox talks takes place weekly at each of the company’s project sites. And discussions and safety learning related to the previous day occur every morning. Brieser has also begun the rollout of an online learning management system to introduce the concept of micro-learning.
“Success at the end of the day typically starts with the plan that was created at the beginning of the day,” Colwell says. “Although we have a strong process for our pre-task discussions, we have noted that there is a need for improvement based on jobsite walks by the safety department, management, and most importantly, feedback from the field.”
When developing its organizational goals this year, Brieser limited it to one item: Explore and Implement Options to Enhance Pre-Task Discussions Prior to All Work. “Not only do pre-task discussions outline the work, risks and controls for the day, but they have a much farther-reaching impact,” he says. “Having a dynamic discussion everyday improves each employee’s experience and creates a bond between employee and organization that will become imperceptible as time progresses.”
