Page 21 - EOB Dec18

CORVAL ACHIEVES 8 MILLION HOURS WITHOUT A LOST TIME INJURY
BY ALEXANDRIA KLAPMEIER
How does a company work 8 million hours over the past 10 years without a lost time injury? It’s simple if you ask Corval. It started with a desire to send everyone home after a day of work.
“We said, ‘What can we do to become better?’” said Rich Budde, Corval’s senior vice president of business development. “It was an amazing journey. It started with an idea and we just went from there. A lot of people want to go through motions (of workplace safety), but are they truly taking it home with them? This is not just your job, it’s your livelihood and your family.”
Corval, which has an of ce in Billings, has set the standard when it comes to safety over the years.
SETTING AN EXAMPLE
Corval is a full-service industrial construction and engi- neering rm that is based in St. Paul, Minn. The company has of ces in Billings, Texas, and North Dakota. The Bill- ings of ce opened in 2007, and Budde said the of ce’s signi cant projects are industrial related.
In June of 2018, Corval reached 8 million hours with no lost time injuries and in August reached 1 million hours recordable free. A “no lost time” injury means an employ- ee did not sustain an injury that prevented them being able to work. A recordable injury is an injury that requires treatment beyond the de nition of rst aid.
To achieve these milestones, two of Corval’s program policies are SPOT and Stop Work Authority. John Rut- ledge, the corporate safety director for Corval, said Stop Work Authority allows employees the right to refuse to work if they feel a situation is unsafe. SPOT is a program that gives employees the opportunity to recognize and reinforce their co-workers’ behaviors.
“MVP most valuable policy,” said Rutledge. “That would be our SWA, Stop Work Authority, always supported and never compromised. If you roll this out you better be dedicated, if you don’t support this 100 percent of the time it will not be effective.”
Rutledge the Stop Work Authority Program is not new, but it’s an important one to Corval’s safety success. At Corval, Rutledge said the company supports its workers when they come forward and say a situation is unsafe. The company will sometimes award workers gift cards and praise those people in front of others.
The SPOT program is the second way Corval keeps its workers safe. Rutledge said the company has written over 100,000 spots since they started the program in 2010. He said it is one way to positively reinforce workplace safety.
A SPOT can happen in two ways. If an employee does something safe while working, a SPOT can be written to recognize and reinforce their actions. The second type of SPOT is a coaching opportunity, said Rutledge, when unsafe behavior is observed and corrected.
At the end of the month, the SPOTs are reviewed. Rutledge said the company chooses between 40-50 employees who receive a gift card. The SPOTs submitted
on the unsafe behavior are reviewed and the company evaluates if they need to offer additional safety training.
“You have to invest in your employees, training is es- sential,” Rutledge said. “It’s up to Corval to identity who needs training and what type. Once you have delivered training you need to verify retention. If the retention is low you need to gure out to improve your training.”
SAFETY IN ACTION
Corval’s keen eye on safety has even trickled down to its subcontractors. Budde recalled when he visited a site on the Baaken one evening.
“I put on a hard hat, but I had tennis shoes on,” Budde said. “I didn’t put on hard toed boots or ear plugs. I was too lazy. I had a subcontractor come over to me and say, ‘Look, I know you want to see the site but you’re not safe right now.’ That was striking to me. This individual could see that I was in a nice, clean hard hat and he took it upon himself to point out that I was not safe.”
Before stepping onto a site, Corval puts its employees through a comprehensive safety program that starts with training and orientation. There is also a site-speci c plan that allows crews to analyze the scope of work, the project schedule and to identify potential risks.
Safety continued on page 22
SAFETY
Corval works on numerous projects across the state, such as the pictured project in Havre. (Photo courtesy of Corval)
@MontanaChamber
December 2018 ||| Eye on Business
21