Page 96 - Occupational Health & Safety, July 2018

CONSTRUCTION SAFETY
Creating a Culture of Safety
Keeping safety top of mind is embedded within today’s construction organizations and starts with strong leadership. BY LAUREN TOSTI
90 Occupational Health & Safety | JULY 2018
www.ohsonline.com
In today’s competitive construction market, we need leaders who build sustainable cultures where safety and health are woven seamlessly into the fabric of the organization alongside efficiency,
quality, and productivity. It’s no secret that leaders create culture, culture shapes attitudes and behaviors, and attitudes and behaviors influence outcomes.
The safety and well-being of every employee and job site comes first and foremost. Beyond this, a lack of safety awareness and compliance also has business consequences. Each year, accidents on the work site pull from the contractor’s bottom line. The direct cost of accidents is found in insurance premiums, deduct- ibles, and direct payments.
Safety always has been an integral part of the con- struction industry, and today it has evolved into a re- source for competitive organizations to become more efficient while simultaneously offering cost-reducing measures that benefit their business.
When compliance is the marker, “your maximum success is tied to achieving minimal results,” said Jeffrey A. Spatz, assistant vice president, safety services, for Graham Company, located in Phila- delphia. “Are you measuring the lack of failures or the presence of positive ac- tions? Focus on what you want more of, rather than what you want less of.”
In addition, safety is no longer limited to compli- ance alone. When compliance is the marker, “your maximum success is tied to achieving minimal re- sults,” said Jeffrey A. Spatz, assistant vice president, safety services, for Graham Company, located in Phil- adelphia. “Are you measuring the lack of failures or
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