By Mike Wolff
Vice President of Safety and Quality

Among all the promises we make to our Customers, safety is above all else.  It is so important to us that, at the end of their shifts, all of our team members go home to their families in the same condition as they arrived, and we want that for your team members as well.

Safety plans are a part of Mid-States everyday work, both at our plant operations and in the field at our installation jobsites.  The single most effective tool we can use to prevent accidents at the workplace or jobsite is pre-project/pre-task planning.  Mid-States has extensive safety manuals for both plant and field applications that hold most of our safety plans and procedures.  While plant operations have standardized policies and procedures for set up, pouring, and stripping, there is still a definite need to have safety plans and pre-planning anytime special projects are created.  Implementing a special project hazard awareness assessment can identify safety hazards in specific projects before the project is started.  This “look ahead” is crucial to preventing injuries.

A great example of the “look ahead” at Mid-States is the new batch plant renovation and the safety pre-planning that had to be completed with the suppliers and contractors.  Several meetings were held with the contractor trying to identify every opportunity for safety issues, before the project even began.  It is essential to complete a site-specific job safety analysis looking for any hazards.  OSHA identifies the “big 4 hazards” as fall hazards, electrical hazards, stuck by hazards, and caught in between hazards.  By looking at each aspect of every hazard, corrective actions can be put in place and plans initiated.  This proactive approach not only improves the safety of a project, but it helps identify efficiency and quality issues before they become actual issues.

Site specific pre-planning is also a required part of every project in the field.  Every jobsite is unique, with different types of hazards.  Mid-States foremen complete site-specific pre-planning meetings on every project before they “pick their first piece.”  It is this crucial exercise that identifies hazards and prevents accidents.  Contractors would not dream of running a job without a plan and safety management must be treated in the same manner.

By creating safety plans and pre-planning accordingly, hazards are eliminated, quality is gained, disruptions are reduced, and money is saved – all of which help set your project up for success.