Editor's Note: Each year, National Underwriter's Excellence in Workers' Compensation Risk Management Award honors organizations with outstanding loss control, safety and return-to-work programs. This year's winners will be honored on Aug. 19 during the 68th annual Workers' Compensation Educational Conference (WCEC), set for Aug. 18-21 at the Orlando World Center Marriott.

When it comes to managing worker safety in the construction business, there's compliance, and then there's genuinely caring about your people.

American Infrastructure is focused on the latter.

With more than 1,800 employees in six states, AI operates in the heavy civil construction industry and boasts $500 million in companywide revenue. Bridges, roads, treatment plants and pipelines span the spectrum of its projects, most of them large and each posing unique challenges and potential safety hazards.

For Risk Manager Bryan Schwartz, fostering a culture of safety—exemplified by its “Home Safe Tonight” initiative—isn't fueled by a desire to simply comply with safety regulations and hopefully contain Workers' Comp costs in the process: It's woven into the very fabric of the company. It's a philosophy that starts at the top and filters down to the boots on the ground.

“It is inconceivable for any of us to believe that a commitment to any other standard of operation is acceptable,” says Schwartz. AI's intolerance for incidents or injuries and a basic caring for every employee, he adds, “bleeds through in everything we do.”

On its job sites, safety professionals are aligned with project teams, notes Bob Herbein, senior VP of corporate services. At the start of each shift there's a huddle among workers during which daily “safety flash” messages are provided to the entire crew, including information about “near misses” and other prior incidents—including, for example, attention to sunscreen use and hydration.

Yet to separate the “safety professionals” from those who operate a crane or a concrete mixer would mischaracterize the commitment of AI's entire workforce to a safe work environment. Its workers are entirely safety-focused, constantly looking out for one another; that sensibility is core to the company's aesthetic. At all of its project sites, “Home Safe Tonight” posters serve to remind employees, sub-contractors and customers of the company's commitment.

“Becoming incident- and injury-free begins with a culture of genuine care, concern and respect for our workers so that they all go home safely to their families each night,” says Schwartz. “We believe that all injuries and occupational injuries are entirely preventable.”

The proof is in the results: A reduction in the injury rate by over 50 percent in just four years, and a drastic reduction in Workers' Comp loss rate per $100 of payroll in the past six years.

A Safety-Focused Commitment

While it has engendered a culture of respect for its employees since it was founded in 1939, AI made a conscious effort to move toward a behavior-based safety program in 2005. Its senior management team implemented a root-cause analysis review of all on-the-job injuries or incidents; it focused on management-level of accountability for losses; and action plans were developed to shift management and employee behaviors to even greater safety-focused approach. AI's new-hire orientation program was revamped to provide better guidance and establish from day one an ingrained sense of responsibility for worker safety and the well-being of co-workers.

A “green hard hat” policy was put in place for all new hires for the first 90 days of their employment so those employees could be readily identified in the field. That easy identification provided greater opportunity for better coaching in new policies, procedures and work practices. AI also increased the ratio of safety professionals to field employees to 76:1 (considered a best practice by the Construction Industry Institute) and assigned safety managers directly to project teams to act as consultants and provide coaching and guidance to assist in planning safe work.

In 2008 AI enlisted the services of consultancy JMJ Associates, which helped to establish further protocols designed to keep safety top-of-mind. All company leaders, including foremen, superintendents, project managers, construction managers and vice presidents were provided a two-day commitment workshop designed to strengthen their personal commitment to safety and better define what an incident- and injury-free (IIF) culture at AI could look like. Focused action plans were developed for the leadership teams. Major focus was put on how leaders and management communicate with the workforce; they were trained on how to properly address and show care and concern for employees engaged in at-risk behavior.

“JMJ brought to us the approach of caring and relationships. It's about policies and training, but comes from a place of caring and concern,” says Schwartz. “That's the essence of it.”

Several changes were adopted. A “STOP WORK” card was given to employees to be used if they ever observe a work operation they believe can lead to a serious incident or injury. A continuously updated safe-production playbook of illustrated diagrams, shared with employees at every level on the site, would now be used for planning the day's work. The practice of providing the daily “safety flash” message was instilled. Safety leadership teams were formed in each business unit led by the vice president, and meetings would now be held with sub-contractors to communicate the IIF expectation on all projects.

AI CEO Ross Myers (whom Schwartz calls the company's “chief risk officer”) began extending communications related to work-safety matters to employees' family members via e-mail and in its quarterly mailed newsletter. The extension of such practices to employees' personal lives is not surprising, given that one of the company's key points in its corporate vision of “leaving footprints in the industry.” This guiding value is evident in CEO Myers' participation with 17 other CEOs of world-class companies to drive the IIF culture throughout the construction business.

As sprain/strain type injuries are the leading loss leader, since 2010 AI has employed a program that engages all employees, from job sites to its offices, in a morning stretching routine.

“Our philosophy is that our employees are industrial athletes. If sports teams who play for fewer hours than we do at the workface stretch before a game, then it would make even more sense for our employees to do the same,” says Schwartz. “Not only are our workers physically ready for work, it is their first touch with safety in the morning every day, and during the stretching, discussions about the work plan build relationships within the team. People are talking about the day's activities, and it gives you more time to engage in conversation about the hazards out there while we're stretching.”

During the stretch, Herbein adds, an employee might notice atypical behavior or mood in a co-worker, who might be distracted by personal issues that might cause him or her to be distracted on the job—and distractions lead to accidents. If such behavior is observed, that worker might be assigned to a different task, or at the very least advised by a supervisor to be mindful.

High Risk, Great Reward

Using AI's homegrown, internal risk-management information system (a proprietary tool that was built in 2003), when supervisors report the incidents they provide detailed data—day of the week, time of day, age, hire dates, etc.—that is input into the RMIS system on all injuries and the continued progress of the affected employee (closely monitored by the company's medical director). The RMIS is integrated into the company's CMiC (a construction enterprise system), and reports can thereby be generated incorporating cross-sections of data including financials, OSHA incident rates, number of lost-work days, medical costs and other pertinent information, which can be compared against project goals and shared across business units.

This practice allows for precise calculations when building the costs of injuries or incidents into a particular project arises. “As insurance companies set up reserves, so do we, internally,” says Herbein. “Bryan then becomes a business partner in limiting that cost of risk. An underlying critical component of our program is this type of information-sharing.”

AI maintains a high deductible with its WC insurer, Liberty Mutual, which keeps the company highly cognizant of its cost-containment efforts on the workers' comp side.

“Over time we've increased our Workers' Comp deductible as we continue to use these best practices and honor the JMJ commitments we've made,” Schwartz says. “We've been able to raise our stake in the game and reap the benefits of lower premiums.”

“We've built up our confidence that we can control the risk over time, and put our money where our mouth is,” adds Herbein. “It creates a financial repercussion that keeps us on our toes.”

When incidents do occur, the employee must inform the foreman immediately; the medical director can then determine whether the condition can be managed on site or if the employee needs offsite care. Medical providers in AI's network are advised and sometimes utilized, in which case the medical director follows up, serving as the quarterback through the entire process—coordinating MRIs, for example, working with the adjuster, talking through different potential alternative treatments, working with doctors to get old records, and other tasks that will help the employee get back on the job.

“It's about taking care of that person, making sure they have everything they need to work toward recovery,” Schwartz says. That extends to the company's return-to-work programs, through which employees are encouraged to return via light-duty work; some are put to use in job trailers at work sites, others in site-security positions in areas where equipment is at risk of theft. Regardless of the task, however, they are paid full wages. “We want our employees to feel productive and get back to work as soon as possible, with zero wage loss,” says Herbein.

For AI, the biggest surprise since implementing a culture of extreme care at multiple levels has been how well it has been received and put in practice by its people. Safety protocols are fine, says Herbein, but once you get employees to realize that you care about their well-being, they begin to embrace wholeheartedly the idea of constantly looking out for each other.

“I didn't start out in early 2008 believing that would be as successful as it has,” says Herbein. “When I hear stories from our employees that their family doesn't want them to get hurt, that that message has gotten through and their family is in the game—that gives me a lot of satisfaction.

“It's not about compliance,” he adds. “It's about a genuine concern for each other personally. That's huge.”

Special Reports /

American Infrastructure Builds a Culture of Caring

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