BY KEN GARCIA
Safety is key for any business. Whether it is from the tools, heavy equipment, the weather or even mental health, companies value the safety of their employees. This is especially true in the construction industry, where many hazards exist.
AGC of America recognizes those safety programs and their work through the Construction Safety Excellence Awards (CSEA), sponsored by Willis Towers Watson. This year’s grand award
winner is Hensel Phelps, a general contractor with offices nationwide. Their work is primarily commercial and can touch industries ranging from aviation, the U.S. Defense Department, hospitality, theme parks and manufacturing. With a company this large and with many employees, it is important to have a safety program to keep workers safe. At Hensel Phelps, their philosophy is that safety is everyone’s responsibility.
“We expect every employee on every jobsite to be a leader in safety,” said President and CEO Mike Choutka. “It starts with me and continues through all leadership levels. Engagement has to be prominent and has to be genuine.”
“For a safety program to be impactful, companies need to focus on culture, and leaders need to manage safety beyond a regulatory approach,” echoed Jerry Shupe, Hensel Phelps Corporate Director of Safety. “When people know an organization cares about them and all stakeholders feel empowered, the resulting safety culture will drive exemplary results.”
Choutka has 32 years of experience in the construction industry. His first jobsite was right out of college as an entry-level field engineer at the Denver International Airport, known for its tent-like structures. He worked his way up through the company, becoming CEO and took on the role of president five years ago.
Shupe has spent his entire career in safety and health after realizing he was not passionate abut being a petroleum engineer. While working as a lifeguard in college, he decided safety was his future as he enjoyed helping others. He earned a degree in Occupational Safety and Health from Montana Tech. He started his career as a safety intern and has been with Hensel Phelps for almost 21 years. Today, he runs the safety program across all of Hensel Phelps.
“I think for a company to really have a top-notch safety program, they need to move beyond a regulatory approach and try to really build a good culture from the ground up,” Shupe said.
But that doesn’t mean they ignore the critical national safety regulations, includ- ing accident investigations, hazard analy- sis, near-miss reporting and toolbox talks. “You have to build a platform that’s con- sistent across the entire entity,” Choutka said. “You have to hold people account- able when things don’t go well. You have to recognize people when things do go well. I think those are two important parts of a really strong safety program.
To be honored as the grand prize winner of CSEA, Hensel Phelps had to provide the following information to AGC:
• Company management commitment
• Active employee participation
• Safety training
• Work site hazard identification and control
• Safety program innovation
Hensel Phelps’ program touches all of these criteria by having a program with what they call its pillars of safety excellence to help guide to zero accidents. These are leadership involvement, employee engagement and accountability and recognition.
“The pillars have helped us develop some of our most successful programs, including our Craft Awareness, Recognition and Engagement in Safety programs (known as CARES), Executive Safety Culture Charettes and our leading indicator assessments,” Shupe said.
Another key to the success of the Hensel Phelps safety program is that all stakeholders are involved. They focus on the total environment of employees of all levels — especially the craft professionals working on-site every day.
“What we’ve learned from that process is they’re concerned about a lot of things other than just purely safety or compliance issues,” said Choutka. “It is about the environment and having the right facilities and support structure in place so they can be successful.”
For Hensel Phelps to win the award, they endured a rigorous judging process. Programs from all award candidates were judged by AGC’s Safety & Health Committee at the Construction Health and Safety Conference in January. Finalists from each divisional category (building, construction management, heavy, highway & transportation, utility infrastructure and specialty) were invited to the AGC Annual Convention in Las Vegas, where they gave an oral presentation of their programs before a five-judge panel. A first, second and third-place winner in each division were named. Hensel Phelps was selected from all the first-place winners and was honored at the CSEA ceremony in Vegas.
“It is an honor to be recognized during the CSEA awards considering the caliber of companies receiving awards,” Shupe said. “I believe what sets us apart is our commitment to engage and empower our tradesmen and women on our sites. We have found that their buy-in and support of our safety program is essential to build a culture where everyone cares for one another.”
“We’ve done awareness training on substance abuse, pain management, burnout and stress. We are really trying to provide our workforce with all the tools to help them bring their best self to work every day and perform at the highest level,” said Choutka.
“We’re calling it a culture of care. And we’ve got a whole program focusing on mental health and suicide prevention,” Shupe added.
“We’ve participated in it in other years, and it’s such a thorough process. It helps us take a real-time inventory of our progress in the safety journey we’re on,“ Choutka said.
“I like that it helps hold us accountable. It can’t be the same old check-the- box mentality. There has to be some new and exciting opportunities for people to engage in safety in a different way. That’s what I’m probably most proud of — our team’s ability to continually evolve and continually try to get better.”