Safway partners with OSHA, NIOSH and CPWR for campaign

“Developing a strong culture of safety – not just at the company-wide level but in the sub-cultures that exist at our many individual job sites – is the single most important factor in reducing accidents and injuries,” said Paul Amedee, Safway Group’s vice president of Safety. “When safety is infused throughout an organization’s culture on every level, everyone from employees to customers and shareholders wins.”Paul Amedee photo

As a partner in the campaign, Safway has outlined a comprehensive plan with activities aimed at both an internal audience, including all Safway employees, and an external audience, which will include industry associations, organizations and contractors. To kick-off the campaign, Safway will be participating in the nationwide “stand down” scheduled for Monday, June 2.

“At each of our jobsites, we will be taking time out of the work day to introduce the "Stop Falls” campaign and talk about safety during the stand down,” Amedee said.

According to OSHA, the leading cause of worker deaths on construction sites were falls, and the top three most frequently cited standards in fiscal year 2013 (October 2012 – September 2013) were:

1. Fall protection, construction;

2. Hazard communication standard, general industry; and

3. Scaffolding, general requirements, construction.

“Falls are the leading cause of death in construction,” said Dr. David Michaels, assistant secretary of labor for occupational safety and health, “so it is vitally important for employers to provide the right equipment and properly train their workers. Falls can be prevented and lives can be saved by planning ahead to get the job done safely, providing the right equipment and training workers to use the equipment safely.”

“Safety is our core value,” said Hayes. “Our goal is to be known as not only the safest company but to help improve safety levels across the entire industry, and we have the resources and know-how to make it happen. We are the only company in the industry with our own training university. We have trained more than 40,000 or our own employees and over 40,000 of our clients. We provide experienced, professionally trained on-site safety professionals who deliver expertise in field management, including OSHA, Cal/OSHA and occupational health and safety compliance and assist in safety promotion and accident prevention on the job.”

In addition, Safway Group and Honeywell Safety Products (Hayes’s former company) introduced the Miller TurboLite Personal Fall Limiter in 2013. Designed by Honeywell, at the request of Safway Group – specifically for workers in the scaffold, access and industrial service fields – the Miller TurboLite Personal Fall Limiter (PFL) is the lightest model on the market to help minimize worker fatigue.

“We turned to Honeywell/Miller to help us develop and engineer fall protection equipment designed specifically for our industry,” said Hayes. “This is part of our 100 percent fall protection policy requiring all of our employees who are working at heights to wear protective gear. We want to provide our employees with the best possible fall protection equipment. The Miller TurboLite PFL, combined with the Miller Aircore™ harness and other Honeywell fall protection products, gives our workers more flexibility, while keeping them secure and properly tied off. ”

Over the past year, Safway said it has reduced its recordable injury rate among employees by more than 50 percent overall, and by more than 70 percent in U.S. refinery/petroleum and power markets.