Is it time to change hard hats?
Did you know that hard hats have an expiration date? They really protect your head for only five years. Check the date stamped in your hard hat and see how old yours is. After five years they really become brittle and will not protect you. Yes, I know you like your decal from Safety Week 2007, sorry, put that hat on the shelf for historic purposes.
I end these Touching Base emails that I send out to all Gilbane employees with “Stay safe”. A long time safety professional colleague of mine, Keith Williams, penned a piece recently on what he called the “hardest question in the world”. Which is “What is safe?” I say it all the time, stay safe, to my kids, “be safe” etc. But when we come down to it, it really is subjective and personal to each person. Maybe that is why we all struggle as an industry. We are all working to perhaps different definitions of the same word! Webster’s dictionary says safe is “free from harm, unhurt”. But this is an outcome, not an action. When we focus more specifically on the Risks we face in each circumstance, we stand a better chance of mitigating the risks. Then as a company if we have done our job on training, job planning and situational job selection and appropriate staffing, then the missing component is……..caring. Again, this brings home to me Gilbane’s Core Value of Caring. We have to do our job as Gilbane and the construction industry, to keep the process and development of risk mitigation complete and disciplined. When we can factor the Caring into that recipe, then we can see the company caring for our people and the outcome is safety. Our Gilbane Cares culture is contagious in a good way.
I go back to the hard hat expiration topic. One could say that a component of staying safe, is wearing our hardhats. But if we have a gap in our systems and accountability that allows you to continue to wear a dangerous hat, unbeknownst to you, then you are NOT staying safe in that regard. We will continually look for the gaps in our systems, as often human error is many times the reaon. “Safe is something that clicks between your ears, not something you hold in your hands.”
Stay safe (couldn’t help it)
McK
Company Owner at Cincinnati RetroFoam
7 年Gilbane Building owes me $32,043.00 I own Integrity 1st Roofing in Cincinnati, Ohio which is a small family business. We were contracted to install a new roof and gutters at Chase Bank on Kenwood road by your company. We are getting the run around by your project manager Marrissa Dellavalle. We have been promised to be paid, but we never receive a check. Everything is done except a small portion of the gutters because of a sign. We are told by Marrissa Dellavalle, that to detach & reset the sign is not in the budget so they don't know how to do that. For that reason, we can not finish the small part of the gutters and my check is held up. I should not be held up because someone does not know how to schedule a job. Marrissa Dellavalle keeps telling us that she can only pay 90% because we don't have the gutters done and that never shows up. When we finished the job, we were told by your manager on site, that this was the smoothest job and he wished they all went this good. I need to be paid in full. You may reach me at 513-563-7663 Dan Grimes / Pam Grimes Integrity 1st Roofing
Project Manager at CH2M HILL
7 年Lookin good Mike, how's the golf game?
Project Manager at CH2M HILL
7 年Mike, are those Don Luger's gloves?
President @ JK Executive Search | CPC, CSAM | [email protected] | 614-431-7292
7 年Recently placed a Safety Director and that was one of his reasons for making the job change