Jordan Foster Construction’s commitment to safety — employing both traditional and nontraditional principles — earned the company top recognition at AGC of America’s Construction Safety Excellence Awards, sponsored by WTW and Starr Insurance, naming it the nation’s top construction safety and health program in 2023
BY KATIE KUEHNER-HEBERT
Each year at its annual convention, AGC recognizes and honors those construction companies that excel at safety performance. Earlier this year in San Diego, Jordan Foster Construction, a leading Texas general contractor performing both civil and building group work, received first place in CSEA’s Highway and Civil work category with more than one million manhours.
The company was also selected as the competition’s Grand Award Winner, representing the highest honor awarded across all categories.
“At Jordan Foster, safety is integrated into operations, enhancing both our overall operational performance and our profitability,” said Tricia Kagerer, the company’s executive vice president of risk management.
“We strive to protect our team members and design our process and procedures to perform work in the best way possible to prevent loss,” she said. “When things do happen, we run to the problem, using all the resources at our disposal to mitigate the risk to the best of our ability.”
The more safety becomes part of a company’s work, the less safety is siloed from everything else — “and that’s how you really make a difference,” she said.
Every safety process and procedure is focused on protecting the field team, the company’s “most important resource,” said Damian Alvarez, Jordan Foster’s director of environmental, health and safety.
“We ask ourselves, is the company culture one where we would recommend our company to a family member looking for a job? Would you let your family walk up on that bridge, or go into that excavation or start out in that company? I can answer yes — my son works here, and I am comfortable with that,” Alvarez said.
Why Jordan Foster Stands Out
In addition to adhering to the traditional principles of health and safety, the company incorporates nontraditional components, including several leadership programs revolving around healthy and safe practices, as well as emphasizing the psychological wellbeing of team members, said Asma Bayunus, EHS operations manager.
Its year-long Leadership Pathways program for up-and-coming company professionals is based on the Giant Worldwide toolkit of best practices for communication and conflict resolution, Kagerer said.
“Typically the dominant leadership style has been rewarded in construction — very low support, very high challenge,” she said. “That style may have historically worked in some cases, but sometimes it led to lack of communication in the field.
It can create a tendency for the field team members to hide issues due to a lack of trust, leading to turnover and lingering systemic problems.”
“So, we wanted to intentionally create a different approach to leadership,” Kagerer said. “It fits very nicely into the behavioral aspects of education and training from both a safety and operational perspective.”
Jordan Foster’s Catalyst behavioral skills program gives team members a common language, empowering them to feel more comfortable asking management for what they need to be both productive and safe, so that executive leadership can make better business decisions.
“It’s a win-win for everybody,” she said.
The company’s year-long Field Safety Leader program identifies field team members who may not be managers but are naturally influential with their coworkers and provides them with guidance and training to multiply their influence and leadership abilities, Alvarez said. The program builds a foundation of health and safety best practices, coupled with Giant Worldwide’s leadership and communication skills.
Each member also receives education and training on identifying and responding to mental health-related matters.
“They’re now armed with all this knowledge to help their crews,” he said. “It’s a positive domino effect that helps the entire project team.”
Indeed, Jordan Foster places great emphasis on mental health. In 2008, Kagerer was called upon by Cal Beyer and Sally Spencer Thomas, experts in mental health and suicide prevention training, to draft the first-of-its-kind blueprint for suicide prevention in construction. The blueprint focuses on what companies needed to do to foster better psychological wellbeing, which historically was overlooked and stigmatized in construction.
To aid in this endeavor at Jordan Foster, each member of the company’s EHS department is certified by Living Works to hold sensitive conversations when workers in need approach them, equipped with the knowledge to steer them to the appropriate help, Bayunus said.
The company’s employee assistance program has bilingual counselors available 24/7, confidentially connecting workers to professional help, she said. There is also a special hard hat sticker for field team members trained in how to reach out in private to colleagues who may be in need. The company also implemented a Mind Savers program to assist team members trained in CPR in managing the postincident emotional impact that may occur after someone performs CPR. This program was developed by Bayunus.
Then there’s Pastor Arturo Lopez, a non-denominational pastor the company employs to proactively make connections with team members so they know they can turn to him in any crisis, Kagerer said. Jordan Foster’s president Darren Woody saw the need after a team member experienced death by suicide.
“You can see the impact Pastor Lopez has made,” she said. “He’s sat and held vigils with people as their family members passed on. He’s baptized babies. He’s had wedding ceremonies, and he’s a huge part of the culture of our organization.”
Alvarez also benefited from Pastor Lopez’s presence.
“One day, my mom was put in hospice,” he said, “and suddenly Pastor Lopez showed up. He told me that he just wanted to make sure that he was here for me. That was very cool.”
Jordan Foster’s leaders are willing to adapt and bring in programs they know can significantly affect the workforce, Bayunus said.
“That allows for our workforce to understand that we are a company that is not only invested in safety, but we also genuinely care about their mental well-being,” she said.
The Power of CSEA
Participating in AGC of America’s CSEA program most assuredly elevates safety and health throughout the industry, Alvarez said.
“Iron sharpens iron,” he said. “The process allows you to assess your current safety processes, state what you can do better and what you may have missed or didn’t think about. Networking and information sharing allow you to benchmark with peers to identify opportunities for improvement. The process provides a starting point by learning what others may have already figured out from peers.
We then add our own unique Jordan Foster salt and pepper, making the process our own.”
The awards competition requires a lengthy application process because the program “doesn’t take what safety does lightly,” Bayunus said.
“Having a robust system for tracking your annual metrics integrated in with your risk management program is extremely important,” she said. You need to look not only at where you are currently but also at what you’re willing to do to continue to be forward-thinking and innovative.”
Companies also need to know how to tell their story well.
“When it comes to safety and risk management data, you need to know your company in and out. You need to articulate and describe why your processes are important to your company and why you should be considered the most excellent company for safety in the United States,” Bayunus said.
Companies can’t just submit their EHS manual and say this is who they are because everybody already has one, Alvarez said.
“We can write whatever we want in our EHS manuals, policies, procedures and employee handbooks, but you have to see what is going on in the field.” he said. “You must really dig down deep and see if the process is making a positive impact where it matters most, in the field. What are they doing? How are they taking it?”
If a company is looking for a way to assess its current safety process and identify areas needing improvement, “that very comprehensive CSEA application is the gold standard,” Kagerer said.
“But you have to figure out what excellence looks like in your company,” she said.
“Just going through that assessment process will be a great insight into your organization — from there, you can set goals, building upon your success each year. Our safety process is tied to our overall strategic planning. What story is our data telling us? How do we want to move forward? What do we need to focus on?”
The judges perform “a phenomenal job” and add a lot of value to the process, including providing instructive feedback after competing, Kagerer said.
“It makes a difference because we’re all just trying to be better, and we can learn from each other,” she said. “This platform allows the construction industry to do just that. The best way for the construction industry to improve is never to forget the people in the field.”
Kagerer also applauds AGC’s Culture of CARE initiative, which challenges company leaders to take a bold and visible step toward ensuring their workplaces are welcoming, safe and inclusive for an increasingly diverse and talented pool of workers. Once companies sign the Culture of CARE pledge, AGC provides them with tools and resources to help establish a Culture of CARE to ensure workplace belonging.
“That’s how you change an industry,” she said. “I admire their work, and we look to them as trusted advisors for our risk management process.”
The entire team at Jordan Foster appreciates the CSEA awards program, Bayunus said.
“This is an incredible way for us to continuously assess where we are and how we are doing amongst our peers,” she said. “We get a glimpse into how other construction companies approach safety integration. We’re able to benchmark and compare best practices. By sharing our own story about the unique way we integrate safety excellence into all aspects of our company, we can multiply safety across the entire construction industry.”
Jordan Foster’s risk and safety team is well aware that the CSEA Grand award recognition is only possible because of the commitment its field team makes to best practices every day, Alvarez said. They are invested in the recognition, and the risk and safety team makes sure that they are well informed about their contribution.
“We have the CSEA trophies we’ve won in our office, and when the field team stops by, they like to touch them, just like they would any other championship trophy,” he said.