Operational Excellence Drives Record Safety Performance

Envirocon achieved a Total Recordable Incident Rate (TRIR) of 0.22 for 2011, in accordance with Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA) regulations. This outstanding incident rate is approximately 1/10th of the national average, based upon the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).

“Our TRIR performance for 2011 far exceeded the goal set by our management,” said Envirocon Director of Health and Safety, Joe Ocken. “It is a record that reflects the attitudes and efforts of every single Envirocon employee, as well as our subcontractors. This level of performance would not have been achieved without them.”

In the mid 1990’s, Envirocon’s safety performance was comparable to industry peers. By focusing on behavior-based safety tools and implementing additional safe work practices, our TRIR decreased 50 percent between 2000 and 2007.

While this was encouraging, Envirocon was challenged by our clients to lower the TRIR below 1.0. In 2008, Envirocon’s safety program was expanded to focus on operational excellence and emphasize improving both the control of work, and case management of first aid incidents.

6-Year OSHA Recordable Injury Rate (RIR) as a Fraction of Industry Average

 

Crew members began participating in daily planning processes, which led to employee ownership of operational excellence, safety values, and attitudes. In addition, increased focus on case management by Supervisors and First Aid Case Managers resulted in prevention of minor injuries and earlier recognition of illnesses. Together, these two significant changes helped to decrease Envirocon’s TRIR rate to 0.73 in 2008.

“The more we involve every employee in the safety planning process, the greater their understanding becomes. This, in turn, leads to more opportunities for discovering safer alternatives, and it also feeds ownership of operational excellence values and attitudes,” Ocken said.

Combining behavior-based safety tools, task-specific procedures, and operational excellence has ultimately contributed to continued improvement of Envirocon’s TRIR performance. This achievement reflects the dedication of Envirocon employees, the concern for client satisfaction, and the commitment to efficiently completing projects on time, and more importantly, without incident.

“It makes sense that our three best years for safety performance have also been our best for client satisfaction and profitability,” Ocken noted. “By preventing incidents, we prevent unnecessary costs and distractions from successful work performance. We now look at this as an operational excellence issue. The same culture that values safety, can also value quality and produce excellence overall.”

We would like to congratulate all employees, especially the safety leaders, for their dedication and performance this past year, and we look forward to another outstanding year in 2012.