June 27, 2024

Setting the Standard of Safety

At Power Design, safety is engrained into our culture – with an unwavering commitment to protecting our teams across each of our more than 300 active projects. We prioritize the initiatives that keep our employees out of harm’s way so they can focus on their craft and get home safely each day to their families. This approach, along with our industry-leading Best Practices, sets us above job site standards, and helps contribute to our impressive EMR rating of .68, well below the national average of 1.0. Thanks to our safety standards, we’re also celebrating our 2024 ABC STEP Platinum Level Award.

Our level of commitment to safety is no accident though — we boast a team of 20 highly-trained individuals who guide our decision-making and training, which is implemented across all projects. Over the last two years, our field teams have all become OSHA-30 and CPR/First Aid certified, and Safety Managers on the job sites complete daily training and inspections, ensuring we’re following our own best practices.

We sat down with our Director of Quality Control & Safety Jim Wilkinson to discuss how keeping our teams informed, educated, and aware of our processes to eliminate injuries is a cornerstone of the business and every project we work on.

Despite the awards and recognitions, our skilled and experienced safety department never rests. We continue to push forward and find ways to be better and provide a safer workplace for our number one asset, our employees.

Jim Wilkinson | Director of Quality Control & Safety

Innovative and Actionable Training Processes

According to the 2023 Workforce Analysis Survey by the Associated General Contractors of America and Autodesk, a shocking 68% of firms report applicants lack the skills needed to work in construction. At Power Design, we are committed to ensuring our people are ready for anything and well-trained for their job function with efforts both on and off the job site. All of our safety managers are tenured tradespeople who have switched gears in their careers to follow a path in safety, thus providing invaluable insight and experience to our team. We are also proud to have our brand-new training facility CAMP where our certified trainers can upskill our team on a variety of comprehensive trainings such as fall protection, confined space, and rigging and signaling in a controlled environment.

Cross-Industry Partnerships

Fueled by our desire to become a true partner for our clients, Power Design safety teams work with our job site partners to customize safety guidelines and regulations based on the scope of work, teams, and project size. In 2022, a total of 71,700 nonfatal injuries and illnesses involving days away from work were reported according to the NSC analysis of BLS data. The members of our safety team are certified trainers who not only coach our employees working on project sites, but also extend that instruction to our customer’s team and other sub-contractors so the entire site is safer for everyone. We have stringent guidelines for job sites when it comes to PPE and situational awareness – encouraging all on-site to report anything that seems unsafe or poses a potential hazard to the team so that it may be addressed immediately. On all our job sites, we are a resource for our partners so we can eliminate preventable injuries and protect the well-being of all workers on a project.

Prioritizing Safety, Protecting Our Teams

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported 5,486 fatal work injuries recorded in the United States in 2022, a 5.7% increase from 5,190 in 2021. This sort of statistic is not acceptable to us at Power Design, and our mission to ensure each one of our team members makes it home safely is what led us to create our Zero-In Program. This initiative is dedicated to creating Zero Distractions, Zero Incidents, and Zero Fatalities while acknowledging the hard work our field employees do to stay out of harm’s way and remain focused on job site safety. In addition, we ask our team to re-sign our Zero-In Pledge each year to cement their commitment to our pillars of safety. By keeping our teams informed, educated, and aware of our processes, we can help eliminate potential injuries.

Our people put our core values into action each day by taking accountability for their safety, as well as their team members, and are rewarded for it. Take a look at who was awarded recently for going above and beyond with his commitment to safety on his job site – 2023 Safety Truck Winner.

Our teams’ commitment to safety is not only seen by us but also by our partners. Across our plusONE Customer Surveys, we are often mentioned as the top contractor on job sites when it comes to safety assurance, and we use that as fuel to keep leveling up to keep our jobsites and our people safe. Our passion for safety runs deep and we will continue to invest in new programs, training methods, and safety solutions for our #PDIFamily.

Tag(s): Safety #PDIFamily Thought Leadership Zero-In

Power Design

Our mission is to be the most trusted partner. With passion and accountability, we will deliver unmatched performance and a PlusONE experience. At Power Design we build more than just buildings - we build relationships that last.