The first half of May was packed with safety activities in the Southeast Region. Construction Safety Week was May 1 through 6, and the following week was the North Carolina Department of Labor’s Safety Week as well as OSHA’s National Safety Stand-Down To Prevent Falls in Construction. With a goal of raising awareness, educating and engaging workers and even making safety fun, project teams held a number of activities at their job sites. All events provided a chance for workers on site to take a collective break and remember why we work safely, and to reaffirm their personal commitments to continue looking out for themselves and their coworkers.
All of the activities served to reinforce the importance of having a safe environment so that all workers return home safely every day. LeChase provided either breakfast or morning break for workers at each site. Here a glimpse at some of the activities that took place.
Durham Police Headquarters −The project stopped work for worker recognition lunch on May 3 and welcomed a special guest − North Carolina Commissioner of Labor, Cherie Berry. She addressed the crowd and helped recognize four workers who have gone above and beyond in working safely, then walked around to meet every single worker onsite. The four employees being recognized received a framed certificate and a Lowe’s gift card. Everyone enjoyed a catered BBQ lunch, and entered a raffle for a variety of prizes that included gift cards, coolers, safety glasses, tools, hats and high-visibility LeChase t-shirts.
On May 8, team members also attended a fall protection show/training facilitated on site by Honeywell and Ensco Supply. This was an interactive and fun event, where trade contactor workers and employees from the City of Durham were encouraged to ask questions and participate in the demonstration. Part of the presentation involved dropping a mannequin in a harness and lanyard to show the impact that occurs from a fall.
AC Marriott Hotel − On May 1, the team working on the hotel in Chapel Hill gathered for safety trivia relating to jobsite safety requirements. Those who were first to correctly answer a question received a LeChase high visibility t-shirt. That was followed by a pizza lunch on May 3 to thank everyone for helping to achieve 10 months without any lost time incidents, then a PPE Race on May 5. The race had teams of five seeing how quickly they could put on their personal protective equipment in relay fashion – with one member putting on their PPE then tagging the next to do the same until everyone was equipped. The fastest team received Lowe’s gift cards, and everyone who participated received a high-visibility LeChase t-shirt.
Charlotte Mecklenburg Schools – The program management team started their activities with a bulletin board of pictures showing family and friends for whom each worker was committed to work safely. Safety stand downs were then held at a variety of schools to cover pertinent topics:
- At Myers Park High School, LeChase partnered with BEK, with LeChase focusing on topics around PPE, safety netting during decking operations and a recent Lesson Learned on steel rigging. BEK focused on fall prevention.
- May 5 project stand downs at the JT Williams Conversion Renovation and West Charlotte Culinary Arts Renovation (with our General Contractor, Godfrey Construction) focused on hand safety.
- On May 8, LeChase was at Northwest School of the Arts with Turner Construction where they spoke about coaching safe behaviors.
- At an early stand down at Renaissance West STEAM Academy, LeChase spoke on hand safety while Rodgers Construction focused on baker scaffold safety.
- At the new South Mecklenburg addition project, LeChase spoke about PPE while Barnhill spoke about fall prevention.
