Egan Company’s commitment to safety was recognized at the Governor’s Safety Awards Luncheon during the Minnesota Safety & Health Conference. Egan received four Governor’s Safety Awards for achieving safety records better than the 2015 industry average, including an Outstanding Achievement award and three Meritorious Achievement awards!
Posts Tagged ‘Safety’
Becoming America’s Safest
Monday, June 8th, 2015The construction industry’s stance on workplace safety has drastically changed in the past century. Increased demand for safer work environments has led to many innovations, new legislation, and a noticeable drop in workplace injuries/deaths.
Egan has set the standard for other contractors to follow. By having Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) mandatory 100% of the time, it shows that everyone wants to see us return home safe to our families every day.
– Paul Hartman, Egan Company Electrical Foreman
These trends are encouraging, but there is no such thing as an ideal ratio. You can’t measure a tragedy’s impact by how many times it occurs, and citing statistical improvements does nothing to subdue the personal impact of a work-related injury or death. The only positive result comes from finding the will to do better by expanding the role of safety.
Egan Company first established a safety department in 1986. Having been founded in 1945, it may surprise some that Egan had gone over forty years without a dedicated safety program.
“There was widespread recognition of the seemingly inherent risks to construction back then,” said Larry Hanson, Egan Company Safety Director. “Some larger projects even had the predicted ‘acceptable’ number of deaths calculated beforehand in the scope.”
Getting hurt was a given, entrenched deep within the minds of those who worked in construction. To give you an idea, here is an excerpt from the American Electricians’ Handbook (published in 1932) about testing circuits for voltages: “The presence of low voltages can be determined by ‘tasting…If voltage is present, a peculiar mildly burning sensation results, which will never be forgotten after one has experienced it.”
The construction industry’s safety expectations thankfully changed, and so too did Egan’s.
Egan has evolved a “zero-injury” policy. This more aggressive stance pushed the company to internally develop a proactive approach to safety, including initiatives like pre-workday safety plans, 100% eyewear/gloves, and the blue hardhat program for new employees.
Egan’s safety department continued to develop beyond focusing solely on compiling impressive statistics, unveiling a new program identity, “Safety Brings You Home,” that emphasizes Egan’s focus on protecting people.
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Egan’s] safety program goes above and beyond all programs I have seen in my 20 years on the job. When we work with other contractors, they often adopt our standards, making the job a safer environment for all.
– Shawn Collette, Egan Company Pipefitter Foreman
It marked the start of a transformational era for the company. Egan’s Incident Rates has progressed from 7.71 (2000) to 2.04 (2014).
This past year, Egan was named one of America’s Safest Companies by Environmental Health & Safety Today magazine in recognition of sustained safety excellence beyond industry expectations.
Egan continues to move forward in the belief that work-related injuries are preventable, but we can never claim to control all the variables. What we can control is how we collectively work together and support each other to promote safety.
Training to Work and Live Safely
Sunday, June 7th, 2015
Safety awareness is essential in construction, something Chuck Roberts, Egan Company Plumbing Foreman, learned quickly while on the Southdale Medical Office Building jobsite in Edina, Minn.
He noticed a woman with a seeing-eye dog struggling to navigate around the construction. Roberts went to her and asked her where she needed to go and safely walked her around to the other side of the block.
“She was confused and could have put herself in danger,” Roberts said. “Since this is our jobsite, I felt I had to do something to help keep her safe.”
Andy Forsberg, Superintendent at PCL Construction, was impressed that Roberts took the time to help this woman. “He is a very busy guy running the parking ramp, base building, and a build-out on level four,” Forsberg said. “The crew on this site has a great attitude toward safety.”
Jobsite Awareness
At Egan Company, we are committed to providing all employees with a safe and healthy place of employment. One of the ways we do this is by investing in safety training resources for employees.
“One way we empower our employees to ensure their own safety in the workplace is by providing all necessary skills and information through training,” said Larry Hanson, Egan Company Safety Director.
Egan has a full-time safety team that facilitates regular safety training for all employees. Training is provided through weekly jobsite toolbox talks, task specific training, and online courses offered for employees to gain safety knowledge and experience.
Many of these trainings are tailored for jobsite and construction site employees, such as OSHA 10 & 30, defensive driving, and boom, scissor, and fork lift operation.
However, many Egan employees have taken what they’ve learned in their safety trainings into their everyday lives.
Ashley Czichray, Egan Company Plumber, was recently leaving a jobsite and witnessed a pedestrian get struck by a taxi. She was forced to think quickly and recall what she had learned in her various safety trainings.
After calling 911, she made sure to not move the injured woman. She then covered the woman with coats to keep her warm and comfortable until the ambulance arrived.
Safety Awareness at Home
Administrative and office staff also take safety training classes, including CPR and First Aid, in order to be prepared in any situation, at work or at home.
Chris Jarombek, Egan Company Account Manager, utilized his CPR and First Aid education just three days after taking the class. While up at his family cabin in the Leech Lake area, he joined a group for dinner at a local restaurant, and one patron started to choke. He quickly grabbed him and asked if he was choking. Jarombek performed the Heimlich Maneuver until a piece of food was ejected.
“If I hadn’t attended the CPR/First Aid classes at Egan, I would not have known how to help someone in that terrible situation,” Jarombek said. “I’m not sure I would have had the confidence to immediately snap into action.”
Our company-wide goal is to ensure that any and all injuries be prevented. Any injury to our workers, subcontractors, or other involved parties is not acceptable.
“By providing our employees with the tools to react confidently and quickly, we hope to prevent as many injuries as possible, whether it is on a jobsite, at home, or in public,” Hanson said.
Egan Recipient of Governor’s Safety Awards
Friday, March 28th, 2014MINNEAPOLIS, MN (March 28, 2014) – The Minnesota Safety Council has awarded three Governor’s Safety Awards to Egan Company for superior performance in workplace safety and health.
Egan is one of only 19 companies to receive an Award of Honor; recipients of this award have incident rates at least 91% better than the industry average and a score between 91 and 100 on the safety program evaluation scale. Egan also received an Outstanding Achievement Award and a Meritorious Achievement Award recognizing an outstanding record and incident rates better than the industry average for at least three years, respectively.
“At Egan, we demand safety—for our employees and for our customers,” said Larry Hanson, Egan Safety Director. “This recognition from the Minnesota Safety Council is meaningful testament that we have been effective and remained committed to workplace safety at every level.”
Egan is one of 202 Minnesota companies who will be recognized at the Governor’s Safety Awards luncheon at the Minneapolis Convention Center on May 8. To read more about the scorecard and award categories, visit http://bit.ly/1g6VPXV.
About Egan Company
Egan Company is a fully integrated, specialty contractor that delivers attention, commitment and craftsmanship to every project. Egan serves every stage of a building and provides in-house expertise in planning, design, building and maintenance. The Company employs 900+ people (seasonally adjusted) representing over 15 trade unions serving virtually every infrastructure discipline in the industry. Core services include: mechanical, electrical, industrial controls, outside electrical, building systems, service and curtainwall/glass. For more information, visit www.eganco.com.
About Minnesota Safety Council
The Minnesota Safety Council, founded in 1928, is a non-governmental, not-for-profit organization dedicated to improving the quality of life in Minnesota by preventing unintentional injuries (“accidents”). Since 1934, the annual Governor’s Safety Awards program has honored Minnesota employers with exceptional safety performance. Applicants are judged on several years of injury data as it compares with their industry’s national statistics, and on their progress in implementing a comprehensive safety program.
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Media Contact:
Jessica Johnson
jkjohnson@eganco.com
763-595-4310