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Safety for the right reasons

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There is the cliché expression “Safety is Our #1 Priority.” I have also heard it said that safety cannot be a priority because priorities change. That might be a clever way to “think outside the box,” but its really just splitting hairs on semantics. We all understand the sentiment: it's important. But let's be clear about something: safety and the work itself are not mutually exclusive. There are right ways to do the job and there are wrong ways. To allow employees to do a job unsafely is the wrong way.

You either care about the safety of your employees, or you don’t. Perhaps you do and you just don’t know exactly how to show it. Perhaps you don’t act like it day to day, but when someone gets hurt you certainly regret it and wish things had been done differently. Does this sound like you?

Don’t wait and wish. Prove it to yourself and show your employees every day that they are the valued force of your business that they truly are - not just commodities.

Stand Out

This image actually represents a few metaphors.

First, when MIOSHA shows up on-site, wouldn’t it be great to NOT get burned? This is especially true if you are a high-risk trade like roofing, siding, and framing. You are extremely vulnerable.

Second, in today's industry, safety is still, unfortunately, not that commonplace. With the desire to stand out from your competition and the expertise of a safety-focused consultant, you can start winning more bids and get the contracts you want, without sacrificing your competitive pricing and efficiency.

Lastly, safety isn’t going anywhere. If you don’t already know this, let me be the first to tell you: sooner rather than later you will need to be on board with safety. Successful businesses adapt. Those other houses weren’t prepared.

MIOSHA

Do you think MIOSHA is the big bad wolf just trying to fry up some good, honest companies and send their employees to collect Bridge Cards? If you answered YES, stop it.

In fact, I was once told that OSHA takes the position that companies are just making money off the backs of their employees and how un-American that position is. Let’s get some things straight.

Yes, OSHA draws a line in the sand between employers and employees. Yes, when violations are observed, the lens through which OSHA views those behaviors is that the employer did not do enough to prevent it. To understand why you only need to research the Triangle Shirtwaist Co and Child Labor.

Let me sum it up: only two generations ago, here in the “City on the Hill,” employers made money off the backs of employees in ways we wouldn’t consider today. What’s more, even with OSHA existing since the early '70s, as you read this there are companies willing to put their workers in harm's way for the sake of a buck. Of course, this is not true for every company.

I spend a lot of time trying to change people's perceptions of what OSHA does. When a company hires an employee, Mr. Owner says, "I am going to pay you $X per hour to do what I tell you to do." They have now entered into a contract, and with contracts come rules. OSHA's job is to be in that conversation saying, "OK, but what you tell him/her to do better not be unsafe."

If your house is built of sticks, don’t blame the wolf for blowing it down.

TIME

Time is money. What makes you money is project turnaround or, better yet, securing a large, long-term project from a general contractor or developer that pays well and pays timely. In either case, it’s an “all hands on deck” process from the owner bidding and winning the job, to a project manager securing contractors and managing project finances, to the superintendents or foreman managing the workforce, keeping schedules and quality control, to administrative staff managing documentation so money gets to where it's supposed to go. Realistically, none of those people have the amount of extra time it takes to properly implement a quality safety program.

Without CSA at your disposal, who will visit your projects, take 30-60 minutes to perform a thorough and OBJECTIVE inspection, document the findings, and present the proper solutions? Perhaps you think that’s not a service you need. However, OSHA doesn’t visit your office. You need to know what is happening at the front lines. This is especially true if you are a general contractor! Everything that happens on-site is YOUR responsibility.

Hiring CSA allows you and your company to focus on keeping the wheels of production moving while we provide the expert knowledge and solutions without slowing you down.

MONEY

Take-My-Chances Masonry, LLC is like a lot of contractors out there. In particular, they don’t feel it's necessary to put their staff through appropriate safety training and perform site inspections. They are able to bid low on projects because they don’t factor in safety management (you get what you pay for). A couple of years ago they had an injury that resulted in 6 days away from work. The following year, they had another injury that resulted in 3 days away from work. Their EMR skyrocketed to 1.87 (if you are reading this and don’t know what that means, please refer your boss to this website). Their annual workers' compensation premium is typically $100,000. However, because of these claims, they now have to pay $187,000. That doesn’t include what they may have had to pay in medical bills and wage replacement. Remember, workers' compensation isn’t like most insurance policies: those costs still come out of your bottom line.

Speaking of the bottom line: creating a “safety director” position at your company is going to cost you anywhere from $40,000 to $80,000 or more in annual salary plus payroll costs. Most companies are not in that position, so even if you assign the role to someone already on payroll, what is that raise costing you? Are they really devoting the amount of time to safety that is required? Are you just spending that money to say you have a “safety director?”

Don’t get me wrong: having your own in-house safety director – the kind who is solely devoted to that concept – is the ideal situation for your company. Until that happens, hiring CSA to handle all of your safety needs is the most cost-effective solution to getting your employees to work safer and smarter, prevent injuries, save money, and set yourself apart from your competition. Construction Safety Advisors will bring focused, expert safety knowledge and solutions to your organization for as little as $2,500 to $12,000 a year! The expression “an ounce of prevention…” exists for a reason.

It Pays To Be Safe

Make Safety Part of Your Company Culture

Construction Safety Advisors partners with construction companies looking to not only make safety a priority – but an intricate part of their company culture. Not just classroom-trained safety providers who only know safety as a theory – but training from those who have worked shoulder to shoulder with builders.

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Construction Safety Consulting & Training

It Pays To Be Safe

Make Safety Part of Your Company Culture

Construction Safety Advisors

Services

Certification Courses

Company Safety Training

Full Service Consulting

Safe Companies Save Lives – And Money

Providing Best-in-Class Construction Safety Consulting Services

Get Serious

About Safety

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