The Quick Safety Interview Series - Strengthening Construction Safety & Planning with Shayne Stevens of Rosendin

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Shayne Stevens

Sr. Corporate Safety Director, Rosendin

The Quick Safety Interview Series by Kwant is built to raise safety awareness and bring construction industry professionals together. Safety continues to be increasingly important within construction, and the team at Kwant wants to support safety culture by sharing the voice of safety professionals that are making an impact within the construction industry.

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The journey toward construction safety

Safety continues to be a hot topic in construction. The team recently sat down with Shayne Stevens from Rosendin to talk about construction safety and ways to strengthen different techniques for safer outcomes. You should check out Rosendin if you haven't had a chance. They are one of the leading Electrical Contractors ranked by ENR that are making an impact in construction, safety, and their communities. 

As a Sr. Corporate Safety Director, Shayne has over 20+ years of experience in construction safety. He currently facilitates and manages the overall safety & support teams across Texas and Mid-Atlantic, to list a few. With years of experience under Shayne’s belt, he has been on multiple projects such as data centers, mining, government, pre-fab, manufacturing, education facilities, and more. 

Before making an impact in construction safety, he originally attended Murray State University as a Finance major. What was unique about Shayne was his family background in mining. Shayne understood the horror stories that came with the trade, and always wanted to help in some way. With the help of an Engineering professor, he switched from Finance to an Occupational Health and Safety degree program. Since the switch to safety from Finance, the rest is history.

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Aligning digital transformation to safety and culture

As we dove into the current safety culture within construction, there were a few points that are very important to highlight. Shayne mentioned that “the industry is getting stronger with safety, and we are seeing more initiatives occur.” Safety culture within construction is so important because lives are on the line. The traditional stigma of construction is no longer the same as we continue to build toward the future.

When contractors or anyone can incorporate safety within their programs, we can build a strong culture. If a company can continuously improve its safety culture, it will benefit greatly from long-term success rates. Today, many contractors are utilizing innovations that embrace safety to support their journey toward a safer work site. 

The construction industry, historically, has been a slow adopter of technology. In the past, there was a heavy lean on implementing technology that can boost productivity. Many contractors did not realize that the safer the jobsite, the more productive. Multiple safety managers and directors have fought hard in the past to show how profitable a safe jobsite can be. With the help of technology, this can be achieved. Going by this fact alone, many contractors are utilizing some form of technology to support their safety initiatives moving forward. 

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Incorporating safety with onboarding & orientation

The best way to provide safety is by having a starting point, and that is through workforce onboarding. Shayne mentioned “Rosendin provides actual trainers for their workforce within the onboarding process.” Having live trainers makes onboarding more engaging and allocates real-time training that’s fun. “We give our new hires a roadmap for their career when they start,” says Shayne. 

At Rosendin, they provide lockout and tag out training rooms for their workforce. Having training rooms allows for tangible, interactive experiences for the workforce. Training rooms include activities like wiring, physical lock outs, and simulators. Rosendin also partners with specialty companies that help support training for proper tool usage.

One very important aspect to onboarding and orientation with safety is providing a great safety roadmap and mindset for leadership. Once leadership understands the true value of safety, they bestow building blocks for field leadership and their workforce for a more proactive workflow. 

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Planning for safety

After discussing several topics on safety, we landed on safety planning. Planning is an important part of safety that often doesn't get the attention it needs. If you can plan ahead, you can forecast and make adjustments when necessary. Shayne mentions “Rosendin sees the opportunity to plan work better.” Pre-task work plans are a great way to get ahead of the program.

The trick is to get as detailed as you can with your plans and pre-task plans. Implementing strategies and plans takes time and requires the right people in place. Due to the labor shortage, it is very important to plan ahead as often as possible to account for future shortcomings. 

To support initiatives and plan accordingly you need to “get as many people from your organization involved with safety” says Shayne Stevens. Field leaders and safety professionals should schedule meetings periodically to review schedules, future training, high-risk activities, and manpower for example.

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Strengthening communication with employees

Good communication requires consistency and room for growth. Communication is the glue that connects everything we spoke of on safety. Due to the labor shortage, we need to communicate even further between different departments. Supervisors, managers, directors, and coordinators need to interact seamlessly to speed through workflow processes that take up waste time. 

Communication can empower employees to also make smart choices on the field and know when to stop working when it’s dangerous. We can help train employees and field supervisors on hazard recognition techniques that come with basic communication. Another great way to boost communication within a company is to provide worker spotlights or a recognition program so employees truly feel valued. You can also see how Rosendin works with their community on their website.

Shayne’s recommendations for strengthening construction safety:

• Plan ahead
• Strengthen onboarding & orientation
• Communicate as much as possible
• Provide interactive training sessions

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Want to be a part of the quick safety interview series? Reach out at www.kwant.ai/contact for more information. 

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About Rosendin

Established in 1919, Rosendin prides itself in building quality electrical and communications installations, and bringing value to our clients. We take great pride in building-up the people within our company and the communities where we work and live. We foster a culture of diversity, inclusion, and shared ownership, as the largest employee-owned company in our industry. Our customers lead some of the most complex construction projects in the nation and continually come to us for our expert knowledge, scalability, quality, and innovation. Most importantly, our customers turn to us for partnership – because they deserve a team as committed, connected and engaged as they are. Your success is our success. Visit www.rosendin.com to learn more about their services.

About Kwant

Kwant is a workforce management & safety platform built to accelerate construction through productivity and safety. Using smart wearables and plug-n-play sensors, Kwant connects jobsite data and provides real-time insights & reports. Visit us at www.kwant.ai for more information.

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