Safety

All employees receive a safety orientation alerting them to the hazards of pipeline construction before they go to a project site right of way. Each crew has its own weekly safety meeting during which crew members are encouraged to discuss the particular safety issues they encounter. We often invite guest speakers from the client company and local utilities to address spread-wide safety meetings and talk to our people about ways to minimize specific hazards. We employ experienced safety engineers who perform daily inspections of work crews and look for ways to make the job safer by enforcing OSHA guidelines and the provisions of our safety program.

We provide special training to certify competent persons on rules regarding ditch safety and focus on ditch slope requirements, trench boxes and shoring. All supervisory personnel receive Red Cross First Aid and CPR training. An Emergency Response Procedure is developed for each job. Each employee gets a map showing the locations of emergency care along the route. We meet with local responders and familiarize them with the pipeline route and nearest intersections. In remote areas, we plot GPS coordinates to enable us to direct medevac helicopters, when required, to the right location.

Crew members and foreman are rewarded for demonstrating safe attitudes and behaviors. We give out significant cash awards and other incentives on a weekly basis. At the same time, disregard for safety is not tolerated. We’d much rather terminate an employee than allow wrong attitudes or unsafe work habits get someone hurt. Our commitment to the safety of each individual starts at the very top of our organization. Everyone is continually reminded that we not only have a right to a safe work place but also share responsibility to continually look out for one another.