“The future of the safety movement is not so much dependent upon the invention of safety devices as on the improvement of methods of educating people to the ideal of caution and safety.”

– Walter Dill Scott

At Haydon Bridge Company, we believe in doing the right thing.  Jobsite productivity and safety are equally important and that message is emphasized in top down messaging and lived via bottom up actions.  We spend significant amounts of time and resources ensuring our employees not only understand but also champion this core belief in safety.  It is our goal to complete each project safely, on time and within budget.     

This blog will discuss, at a high level, our approach to safety from beginning of a project and through the excavation phase.  Future blogs will dive into specific aspects of our job like Lifting/Rigging, Crane Safety, Fall Protection and more.    

Pre-Mobilization

EMERGENCY TEST RUN:  One of the first activities completed is when our Safety Manager contacts local first-responder personnel (Fire/EMT, Medical treatment facilities) to map out the area. 

Consider that we are building a new structure and our jobsites may NOT be on the map yet.  County planners may be aware of the location, but often times first responders are not.  And, we’ve never seen a Google maps ATV traverse one of our sites so you can bet our work location can’t be pulled up on a map!  For this reason, we need to talk to the first responders and figure out the location (in local jargon) of our worksites.  Is there a street address to give them?  A local landmark?  The Donkey Tree perhaps?

Adding a wrinkle to this, we are in the business of building bridges.  Bridges commonly span creeks/rivers.  Creeks and rivers often separate Counties or sometimes States.  If we dial 911 from our location, who will we talk to?  Sometimes the cell tower in another state may pick up our call.  If we aren’t aware of this ahead of time and need to call for help, time could literally be the difference between life or death.   

ONSITE SAFETY REVIEW: Concurrent to the Emergency Test Run, we will evaluate the jobsite from multiple perspectives.  Location (rural/urban), municipality/jurisdictional oversight & rules, water hazards, overhead power hazards, traffic volumes/concerns, worksite topography, soil types, flood plan considerations, fall protection plans & equipment needs, utility locations are all considered and incorporated into our safety and work method plans.  This analysis & evaluation is accomplished through outstanding teamwork between the Project Managers, job Foreman and Safety Manager and then relayed to the work crew as needed through initial jobsite safety meetings, ongoing job hazard analysis discussions and periodic work inspections completed by the Project Managers and OSHA compliance inspections completed by the Safety Manager.

SAFETY PLAN ESTABLISHED

The Safety plan uses a staged approach and follows the methods and order of construction on a given project.  For the purpose of this blog, we will concentrate on the typical first phase of construction for a bridge jobsite; Excavations. 

Excavation Hazards reviewed:  100% of excavation accidents/deaths are preventable.  At Haydon Bridge, we do not allow any employee to enter an excavation prior to it being protected either by sloping, benching, trench box or sheet piling/cofferdam.  Period!  This is the OSHA regulation, this is the right thing to do and this is the safe thing to do.  All excavations are carefully laid out by our project manager staff and professionally excavated by our experienced operators in the field and inspected prior to employee entry and/or as needed due to weather events.  The common risks of excavations involve failed slopes, water, falling debris, potential hazardous atmospheres and potential for nearby traffic.

Typical methods used to protect excavations:

Excavation Management:  Excavation management involves how the excavated area is managed day-to-day.  Prior to anyone occupying an excavated area, the excavation must be inspected by the jobsite competent person to ensure it is safe to occupy prior to anyone entering.  Excavations are also periodically inspected by the Project Managers and Safety Manager to provide a second set of eyes and to inspect what we expect.  All of this is done in the name of safety for our employees.

HAYDON BRIDGE’S CONTINUED INVESTMENT INTO SAFETY & SECURITY OF OUR EMPLOYEES

Our mission statement includes safety as a priority, and it’s the focus of every project we complete and every contract we are awarded. Safety is not cheap and there are no shortcuts of time and manpower for effective safety planning.

Investment in Safety Equipment:  Whether its trench boxes, sheet piling, cofferdams, stanchions, PPE including face, hand, feet and respiratory protection, …  safety is expensive. We do our best to provide our employees with the protective equipment they need to be able to do their job safely. 

Investment in a Full Time Safety Direction:  The job duties of our safety director, Bill Pettus, include

• identifying opportunities to minimize workplace injuries, accidents, and health problems;
• conducting employee training on applicable OSHA safety standards;
• reviewing safety training and recommends revisions, improvements, and updates;
• conducting safety inspections and audits to assess employee compliance with safety regulations.

Investment of Writing and Editing a company-specific Safety Manual & Training Workbook: Our safety document library is a compilation of years of experience handed down from prior generations of owners, employees and outside sources and is a perpetual work in process.  Our Manual is broken down into many individual sections, including: 

• Fire Safety
• Workzone Traffic Control
• Signaling Safety
• Ladder Safety
• Rigging Safety
• Respiratory Protection/Silica Exposure Control
• Demolition Safety
• Crane Safety
• Power Tools Safety
• Aerial Lifts Safety
• Fall Protection
• Excavation Protection

Investment in Third-Party Analysis and Evaluations:  We invest in regular third party inspections from Traveler’s Insurance, OSHA Training & Education, JV Resources to name a few.  We invite regular reviews from these third parties as a way to validate what we are doing is right.  While some companies may shy away from “inspections”, we welcome them.  We WANT someone watching us to ensure we are doing things safely.   

Safety is a priority at Haydon Bridge and is considered a worthy investment of financial resources, time and strategic planning.  With all those risk-preventions in place we not only increase employee safety and retention, we have confidence our team can focus on quality workmanship and timely completion of work without concern for their personal safety.  Because, that’s the right way to do business.