10 Jul Beyond Compliance: Best Practices for Cultivating a Safety Culture
Kevin Klein, Senior Director of HSQE
For organizations and property owners considering solar, choosing an installer and EPC partner with a robust focus on safety can minimize risk, leading to better outcomes and more project value. One set of data points suggests that construction companies that prioritize safety see a 17% increase in productivity on job sites and a reduction in insurance costs.
With commercial solar and energy storage projects, safety is a table stake. At a minimum, it reduces risk and protects customers, employees, and subcontractors. But done well, a robust safety awareness program can foster a stable and efficient workforce, minimize injuries and errors, and boost productivity. And the best solar companies embed quality into all levels of their organizational culture.
As you’re evaluating your next clean energy provider, there are some key safety practices to consider that will ultimately drive better value for your project.
These include:
- Organizational Values
- Risk Assessment & Management
- Jobsite Practices
- Subcontractor selection
Organizational Values & Culture
A genuine commitment to sustainability extends beyond environmental impact; it should include the protection and well-being of the people doing the work. When selecting a solar partner, it’s important to consider how they approach safety as an organization.
Consider the following questions to help identify how safety is embedded in company culture:
- Do they promote continuous improvement or a growth mindset?
- Do they foster a culture that welcomes input or rewards employees for speaking up and helping to avoid problems that could impact safety?
- How does the organization communicate its safety values to employees?
Team slogans can help communicate safety policies and rally employees around shared company values. At Dynamic Energy, we have adopted a “See it. Say it. Sort it.” motto has been an effective way to remind all our employees and subcontractors that we are all responsible for catching and solving emerging problems. Employees are encouraged – and rewarded – for performance and behavior that promptly and proactively solves problems, before they become larger safety or operational concerns. This philosophy underscores safety as a foundational value and fosters a shared purpose that promotes operational excellence throughout the organization.
Risk Assessment & Construction Management
Identifying and managing risks at various project stages is crucial for maintaining safety. OSHA has outlined a Hierarchy of Hazard Control Methods intended to help companies mitigate hazards effectively and proactively. How and when your solar partner applies these principles can have a large impact on the project and safeguard everyone involved. At Dynamic, approach safety control from multiple perspectives:
Job Site Practices
In addition to the controls outlined above, how a company maintains training and jobsite requirements in the field is essential – especially on projects that can last for months with different tradespeople joining the project for stages of the installation. In our experience, having dedicated construction managers on site maintains continuity, and strongly impacts engagement, awareness, and avoidance of safety incidents. Additionally, as the expert on their site, they can proactively analyze jobsite trends for safety indicators and immediately implement programs and changes.
As an example, here are some of the initiatives our construction managers lead in the field:
- Enforcing and reinforcing safety expectations
- Conducting daily Job Hazard Analysis (JHA) and Job Safety Analysis (JSA)
- Regularly inspecting equipment
- Performing safety audits and inspections
- Implementing remote site monitoring
- Conducting regular “toolbox talks” to discuss safety issues and solutions
- Analyzing internal and industry lessons-learned to eradicate recurrence
Subcontractor Selection
Every single worker on your jobsite plays a role in overall project safety – and that includes the workers employed by subcontractors at the site. So it’s critical to ensure the quality and safety of subcontractors performing work for the project are aligned in how they value safety, quality, professionalism, training, and risk mitigation. In our experience, rigorous pre-qualification and vetting helps to identify high-quality subcontractors that align well to our standards before they step on a jobsite. To further reinforce a culture of jobsite excellence, we meet regularly to discuss expectations, and recognize and reward partners who consistently demonstrate safety practices in the field.
At Dynamic Energy, we know that prioritizing safety across our organization not only protects our employees and gets everyone home each night safely; it also enhances productivity and reduces costs and risks for our partners. By making safety a core value that drives how we operate, we’re making our jobsites safer and delivering better value to our customers.
Contact us today to find out more about our rigorous training, certification, and subcontractor vetting processes.
