At Adolfson & Peterson Construction (AP), we treat safety as a culture. Safety is a journey, and each of our team members looks out for one another. They know they have a right to speak up about being safe so everyone goes home to their families every day and can return to work the following day. We sat down with three of our senior superintendents to learn just how AP creates a culture of safety and why workplace safety is so critical.
“Superintendents have so much to manage on the job. We have a dozen or so items we may be dealing with at any point, and at times it gets difficult to stay focused, but the one thing we cannot lose sight of is the safety of our workers,” Tony said. “Safety should be instinctive, especially for a superintendent.”
AP’s Incident and Injury Free (IIF) safety culture (in which all incidents and injuries are preventable) is a great approach to help people understand that preparing to work safely is key, and they must take time to address the safety aspect of their task first, Tony said.
“I’ve been around for a few years and know a lot of things can lead to incidents – from unorganized job sites to being distracted with challenges at home, being behind schedule, supervisors pushing their people to hurry, and even getting so focused on what they’re doing they just don’t think,” Tony said.
The goal is to prevent developing poor habits on the job. Getting on a ladder backward is probably not going to end poorly every time, but it can become a habit and eventually lead to an incident that could have been prevented, he explained.
“We preach about our families because we want each man and woman there to understand whom they are working for. We don’t work for XYZ company, we work for our families. That job is how we support our families and if we don’t do our best at work and learn to do it safely, with our families in mind, there’s a good chance we could get injured or cause an injury,” Tony said.
We just want people to think about what they do and ask questions if they are not sure. We want everyone to be their brother’s keeper because their actions could affect the workers around them, as well as themselves.
“We talk about what happens to their family, wives, husbands, kids or parents if they get injured or never come home. Sometimes I’ll ask a worker if he has a picture of any of his family and to show it to me. It makes them feel like someone cares and most importantly, reminds them who they really work for,” Tony said.
“Going home safely is personal to me,” Will said.
With a 37-year career in construction, he’s managed to avoid major injury and plans to keep it that way. Safety is the name of the game, he explains, for AP.
Safety is an important topic in every worksite meeting. Each trade partner is part of it, too, Will said. When he walks the job, he’s looking at the team to make sure they are wearing their personal protective equipment (PPE) from the hard hat to the vest and the appropriate footwear. Do they need gloves or eye protection?
“We have to make safety personal for everyone. I want to see them go home every day in the same condition they showed up in,” Will says. “You only get one set of eyes; safety glasses are one of the most important pieces of equipment. I have a shaded pair for outside and I have a clear pair; my eyes are always going to be safe. This is something I share with the team routinely.”
A great example of a recent safety training involved the use of a crane placing HVAC units on top of a building. AP organized a safety meeting that morning between the crane operators and the HVAC team. The purpose is to make sure everyone involved in the lift knows what’s going on, and everyone has the right to stop the process if they see something dangerous. The building was emptied as a routine safety protocol. “It’s highly unlikely anything will happen, but we err on the safe side,” he said.
At least every other month, Will reviews safety statistics at the job-wide safety standdown and also encourages trade partners to recognize teammates who routinely practice safety like wearing his harness when in a lift or always wearing his PPE. These people earn a gift bag with AP swag or other giveaways like a gift card.
“AP’s leadership is great. We have one of the best safety records for GCs, and it comes from the top. You hear the leadership talk about safety and weekly safety inspections are easy to accomplish and very worthwhile,” Will said.
Austin’s approach to safety focuses on building relationships with his team members. Over time, that camaraderie allows safety to become part of a casual conversation about life. AP’s project leadership management style is unique, he says.
“We are very transparent. When we onboard our trade partners, we have our safety orientation, and it is common for us to let them know this is not just a ‘check the box’ meeting,” Austin said. “I’m a big proponent of getting involved and having open dialogue because they mean something. Safety talks can become monotonous for people, and we don’t want to see that happen here.”
We encourage our trade partners to be open and honest in their responsibilities because we are all in this together, he said. “One of my catchphrases over the years is that filling out forms and checking boxes does not keep you safe but looking out for one another does. We have to set that example and, in turn, we ask them to give that commitment as well and that is a big part of how we make it part of our culture,” he said.
No one’s safety is any more important than anyone else’s, and everyone from the AP team to the trade partners has the authority to stop work, Austin says. If a task doesn’t look right, even if the stoppage was incorrect – it centers around the team trusting one another and trusting that people will do the right thing.
“No one intentionally comes to work to get hurt,” Austin said. “So, when we have someone who can share a first-person story with the team, it has a lingering effect. The safest job you’ll ever step foot on is where an injury happened the day before, so we try to maintain that level of awareness without going through the experience of injury or loss of life. We are all human and can make mistakes. It’s largely about boosting awareness if someone is having an off day. We just have to watch out for one another and make it a family approach. It goes beyond just checking the box that we did safety training. We need to treat safety as a conversation.”
“When you empower people to do the right thing they usually will,” Austin said.
