CENTURY CITY, CA — One of the most important aspects of a successful Safety Management Program in any jobsite or company is employee recognition.
Appreciation is truly a fundamental human need, and often, understanding and acting on this fact can make or break the safety culture of a jobsite or company.Construction workers respond to appreciation expressed through recognition of their good work, as it confirms to them that their work is valued by management. Hence, when employees and their work are valued, their satisfaction and productivity rises, and they become more motivated to maintain or improve their good work.
At the New Century Plaza jobsite in Century City, CA, Webcor Builders got a head start on the holiday season, with their Holiday All-Hands Safety Meeting, held on Monday, December 4th.
“At this time of year, when friends and family gather to give thanks and celebrate the season, I would like to thank each and every one of the New Century Plaza family, for their commitment to safety,” Cicely Rice, Project Director, communicated to all workers.
“We have had a great safety record, and safety performance is now much improved at the site. We want to keep this momentum into 2018!” Jose Ortiz, Construction Manager, told everyone.
The response from all site workers was very positive when they received words of appreciation and encouragement on safety, from top site management persons. Safety truly starts at the top.
Additionally, and because of the season, prior planning made it possible to have a great amount of very generous gifts donated to the event by trade partners, which included televisions, bose speakers, beats headphones, apple gadgets, google home minis, fitbits, other fancy tech gadgets, high-impact tool sets, gift cards, apparel, etc. These items were raffled out after the safety topics for the event, and generated a lot of worker excitement, a lot of laughs, and a lot of joy to go around.
In total, 210 workers were present at the event, and 74 of them received gifts to take home to their families.
Can you imagine the joy that is created by a jobsite gift at a worker’s family home, and how this can later translate to the safety, productivity, and quality at the jobsite?
Many times, because the positive effects of a well-run safety management program are not easily measured, there seems to still be a tendency in many construction jobsites and companies, to diminish the value and importance of a strong and vibrant safety program.
At this time, I would like to encourage our industry leaders to continue supporting Safety in the way that you write your company policies, your contracts, and how you allocate your budgets. Don’t just talk about it; act on it. Use your unique position of strength and influence to make sure that safety becomes a core value of your business to protect your most valuable asset: your workers.
At Webcor, as a safety professional who truly cares for the workers that I am tasked to protect, I am very grateful and consider myself very privileged to work in an environment where the commitment for Safety from all levels of top management personnel, can genuinely be felt in the field.
Thank you for reading; please share. Let’s go out there and promote Safety in all we do!
