SAFETY CORNER


Lessons Learned in Safety: Former AGC S&H Council Chair Roy Vlaovich Shares His Safety Best Practices


How do you create a culture of


safety? It takes listening as well as


leadership. It takes effective training, attention to detail, data and dedication. And it takes safety professionals committed to applying lessons learned to make the industry safer for all. Roy Vlaovich, former regional


safety manager at Granite Construction Inc., has learned a lot about construction safety during his 35 years in the industry. Currently director of safety for Pacific Gas & Electric after spending 29 years with Granite, Vlaovich was also involved with the AGC Safety & Health Council for 17 years. He served as Chair of the Council in 2014. Continuing its Q&A series with


past and present AGC of California safety leaders, the AGC-CA Safety & Health Council asked Vlaovich to share his journey and a few of his top lessons learned in safety over the years.


What was your personal journey like to become a safety leader, and what experiences or lessons brought you to where you are now?


My unique career path allowed me


to see operations from many different perspectives – first as a superintendent planning and building work, and then as a safety professional. Tose early years helped me understand that the foundation of creating safe work began with seeing the work from the workers’ perspective. While workers do not intend to hurt themselves, they often act counter instinctively to working safe. I learned quickly that while policies and procedures were necessary for establishing uniformity of process and behavior, workers rarely utilized those to make decisions about the ever- changing safety of a work area. What they needed was an


18 July/August 2019


environment that allowed them to fail, safely. Hence, in my experience, a true safety culture exists when every worker not only knows, but expects, safety controls to be in place before they start work and are allowed to stop work when the controls that were established are determined to be inadequate or insufficient. What I’m describing of course are self-sufficient workers – workers that understands that safety begins and ends with them!


Why is safety a core value at your organization?


Safety as a core value means


that the organization recognizes the inherent value of the individual worker. As part of an acquisition team throughout the 1990s (a team that evaluated and acquired other businesses), it became clear that we weren’t buying the assets of the new company, as much as we were their people. When you value the individual contribution of each worker and what they bring to the breadth and depth of your company, it’s easy to understand why you cannot exist without a robust safety program!


What is the biggest obstacle to safety at your organization, and how do you work to overcome it?


Te biggest obstacle to any safety


effort is an assumption that the absence of an accident or injury means the work is safe. Organizations that utilize safety professionals that “get it” have individuals that interact with their workers on a regular basis to assess the ability of the worker (team) to bring safety to their work area. When gaps are found, the safety profes- sional coaches the workers towards improvement, all in an effort to create self-sufficient safety teams.


Roy Vlaovich


How do you instill a sense of safety in employees on an ongoing basis?


Instilling a sense of safety in the


worker is no different that instilling a sense of pride in outcome toward any effort. It starts with establishing a well-defined set of expectations that governs everyone on the team and is supported by a clear understanding by everyone of “why” we have set those expectations. Ten you provide regular feedback to the worker about their participation in the safety effort. Having this communication delivered by the highest-ranking member of the company lends itself to ensuring a positive outcome.


How does your organization measure safety, and what are the leading indi- cators that show you how safe your organization is?


Any organization with a strong


safety culture is measuring the drivers of their culture as their leading indicators. In other words, understand that: 1. Te goal of a safety culture is to develop and maintain self-sufficient safe workers/teams.


2. Tis is achieved by establishing well-defined expectations for everyone.


3. Tis allows workers to only start work when appropriate controls are in place and stop work when the controls that were established are determined to be inadequate or insufficient.


4. You must have regular inspections of work areas by safety professionals that provides direct feedback to individuals/teams of gaps.


5. CEOs, superintendents and super- visors should support the effort through regular interaction with the individuals/teams.


Continued on page 19 California Constructor


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24