The latest from the ASCC

The Stickiness of Lessons Learned 50 Years Ago
Dr. John S. Gaal, Director – Worker Wellness, Missouri Works Initiative

Approximately 45 minutes into the flight, a passenger—in the middle seat—sitting across the aisle from us began to scream. Immediately, flight attendants ascended upon her seating area only to find a young man passed out and leaning into the aisleway—motionless—in the seat next to this woman. The flight attendants loudly requested the assistance of any first responders onboard. Read More

Employees Teaching Employees: A New Twist on the Yearly Stand Downs at Encore Construction, LLC
Grace Fox, Safety Director

Encore has participated yearly in the OSHA stand downs to prevent falls in construction. Though the emphasis on the topics of fall prevention and protection seems ever present in our discussions, we always get high returns from the increased weight given to the subject during stand downs. The stand downs are a great way to intensify our focus on our safety culture particularly in May when the heat and increased production in summer raise our need for improving situational awareness and prevention. However, when we started sending reminders for the 2022 stand downs, there was a definite lackluster response from the field. Even our own safety team did not seem excited about another round of company-wide stand downs. It was clear that we needed to shake things up! We put our heads together and came up with an idea to turn our traditional stand downs upside down. Read More

Job Hazard Analysis Documents

Did you know ASCC has a growing library of Job Hazard Analysis (JHAs) for you to utilize and make specific to your organization, project, and crews? The JHA is available to members and designed to enhance workplace safety by systematically identifying and mitigating hazards associated with specific tasks. The JHA is an invaluable tool that serves several purposes ranging from education and training to utilizing task pre-planning, hazard recognition and ongoing communication on your projects. These templates are available to members and offer a head start in improving workplace safety and promoting a proactive approach in a customizable and writable format for each member to make specific to their individual crews and onsite work processes.

Chris Klemaske, SUNDEK

As I was gathering information and making notes to write this column a quote by Maya Angelou came to mind, “Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better.”

Everyone’s safety journey is different, and I wanted to share that we at Sundek have reached one of our safety goals and also tell you how this came about. There are three events that helped to take Sundek to the next level. First, our leadership decided to invest in a more intentional safety program. We have always made safety a priority on our projects, but we wanted to do more. For us to be more intentional, our teammate Micheal Mercado took on the role of our Safety Champion. Michael made the commitment to attend the ASCC Safety Summit in Houston in 2021. He shared his experience with the rest of our team and one of the things I remember him saying was that he felt like a small fish in a big pond. It was a great opportunity to see what other contractors, large and small were doing and what resources we had available to improve our program. The third event was our Sundek convention in February of 2023. One of the reasons that I joined Sundek is their passion and caring for their employees. This annual convention is something that demonstrates that commitment. It is a meeting full of camaraderie, sharing, education and fun. This year was no different except for one thing, our leadership team asked Joe Whiteman to come and speak to our group about safety and tell us how we are doing. What I did not know at the time was that this presentation was going to be very different than what Joe traditionally has done. This presentation started with Joe’s very personal story of his journey into safety. To say that I feel very blessed to have been there to hear his story would be an understatement. You could have heard a pin drop in that room of over one hundred people! When Joe was finished speaking, our President Don Snider turned to the group around him and said, “if they are not listening now, I’m not sure what will do it.” Everyone in that room walked away feeling differently. Now back to the reason I started this story with Maya Angelou’s quote. My teammate Michael Mercado is not only our safety leader, but he is also our National Production Manager. He manages and runs our commercial, decorative concrete projects nationwide from planning the projects to helping our crews install those projects. The result of this new intentional way of looking at safety is that all twenty-two people on our national crew have transitioned from hardhats to helmets. They prefer the helmets to the hardhats and are glad the change was made. Thank you to Joe for inspiring us to do better. Congratulations to Michael for making it happen.

Helmet Heads

If your company is wearing helmets and you’re not on this list, please email Ray.

Safety Moment

At a recent SRMC meeting, council member shared an incident that took place on another contractor’s project but involved one of their former employees. The member shared the employee was a body builder and in great shape. He was dismantling Peri Maximo wall forms and was stepping through a truss and his gear got snagged on the form and ended up causing the wall form to tip over onto him. The individual suffered multiple severe injuries including breaking both his tibia and fibula and one of the pins from the wall penetrated his cheek into his sinus cavity. He also suffered two brain bleeds and subsequently spent six days in a coma. The member stated that there was an RCA performed, and it showed that there was a lack of follow through and enforcement of their work activities and JHAs as no one had followed any of the safety precautions outlined in the JHA. The member stated that this was an especially hard situation as although the employee was no longer one of their company employees, and this took place on another contractor’s jobsite. The member stated that would not have happened on one of their projects as their safety program and culture is much stronger and stressed that safety is not applied equally from one employer to the next.

All roundtables are at 2 pm Central.

October 18 at 2 pm Central
Utilizing Technology to Advance Safety Training

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Safety Summit
November 8-9, 2023
St. Louis, MO

Registration Opens October 1

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