Due to the nature of work in not only ground improvement, but any construction-centered industry, the risk of on-the-job injuries and potentially dangerous work environments is an unavoidable variable. For this reason, it’s essential to set up stringent protocols and policies that help to ensure the safest work environments for your employees.
At AGI, we adhere to the most up-to-date safety standards for the industry and also implement our own set of rules to ensure we’re keeping the safety and wellbeing of our team as a top priority. Following are some of the ways that Advanced Geosolutions commits to a standard of excellence when it comes to safe practices in every ground improvement job we touch.
Culture of Safety
Placing a strong importance on the culture of safety has been instrumental in mitigating potential problems before they can happen at our firm. In advance of each job, we do a deep analysis of the project to understand worksite conditions, create safety plans tailored to the environments we’re working with and assess each outcome to ensure we are as prepared as possible to avoid any accidents. But we don’t stop there – we continue to do a temperature check on the site and every morning before we start the day, our team gathers for tailgate meetings, to discuss the workload for the day ahead, alert the crew of any potential hazards such as silica exposure ,soft ground areas, site awareness, overhead powerlines and below grade utilities , etc. and encourage them to speak up if they feel there are any unsafe conditions that could have been missed or need to be reexamined.
AGI also hosts regular toolbox talks, where we take a specific safety concern and discuss ways in which to minimize potential hazards. For example, our site leadership often hold discussions with our crews on hearing protection, working from heights, and best practices around heavy equipment. Routinely picking out different site-specific safety concerns and reminding the team of the protocols in place to avoid potential hazards is a great way to keep our crew engaged and refreshed on how to mitigate different on-the-job threats.
PPE and Other Safe Work Environment Necessities
A key part of our safety policy is the baseline requirement that everyone who steps foot on a jobsite is safeguarded from hazardous conditions by means of utilizing the appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE). The ground improvement industry utilizes project specific PPE which can often vary, this includes but is not limited to:
- Hardhats
- Protective eyewear
- Long sleeved shirts and jeans
- Gloves
- Steel-toe boots
- Construction high visibility vests
- Site- or job-specific protective gear (i.e., welding protective equipment)
And with our varied ground improvement solution offerings, AGI upholds site safety by only hiring union-contracted crew members to perform the installation work —those in particular who have the technical experience and understanding required for our industry.
Everyone on our construction team is provided with a site orientation and has access to the AGI safety manual which includes company policies, industry best practices and safety standards to ensure they are fully aware of how to keep themselves and those around them safe and protected for the work at hand.
Incident Reporting
While our team is diligent in doing everything possible to mitigate and avoid on-the-job incidents, even in the safest of work environments, accidents can happen from time to time. When something does happen, the first and most crucial step immediately following the accident is to assess the health and safety of all employees involved, whether it’s a cut that requires first aid or calling for medical professionals.
Once the worker’s safety is assured, we conduct a thorough investigation and root cause analysis to affirm what led to the incident. We require a complete turnaround of the investigation within 24 hours to keep the recount of the event fresh and avoid the possibility of any important details getting forgotten or left out of the incident health and safety report we publish after the fact. Once the incident has been filed and the problem identified, we debrief everyone involved and the team at large to make sure they understand how the incident occurred and how to avoid it from happening again. We also use the report takeaways for planning initiatives when developing preventative measures that can be applied to other projects moving forward.
Employee Safety is a Non-Negotiable at AGI:
Creating and enforcing a safe work environment and ensuring our crew is properly protected from the potential harms of the industry is our top priority and we believe that our team is happier and more productive because of it.
To learn more about our safety culture or how to work with our team, contact us at info@advgeosolutions.com.