Get Involved. What Does This Look Like?

Be involved and watch your work. Simple advice, but who is it meant for?

Supervisors?

Just the foremen?

Whoever feels like it?

Hopefully by now everyone knows the answer to this one. I'm talking about every single individual on the project. I'm talking about YOU. We all might do it in a different way, but it is important that all of us become very involved.

Recently, I had a safety conference call where we had a brainstorm with the managers on each jobsite. It was interesting to hear all of the viewpoints. What we found is that getting involved sounds simple, but there seems to be some pain-points on fully understanding what that looks like in action. What we tried to do is create an outline that will help you understand what being involved truly looks like.

We found that it is important for you to get your crew’s input and ideas on the work being done and how they watch the work. Understanding how to engage your crews directly leads to involvement.

Here are a few ideas from the managers on what to look for:

1. Look for wrong steps.

2. Look for unnecessary steps.

3. Talk with crane operator on what they see.

4. Know your people and know the plan.

5. Watch for body positioning, access.

6. Is the work area clean?

7. Ask employees–“What is the hardest, toughest thing you do “.

8. Is the crew always looking for tools and supplies or are they equipped properly.

9. Put the cell phone away and study the operation.

10. Are the tools being used correctly?

11. Pay attention to the interaction between operations and recognize changes.

Adjust as necessary. Every jobsite has different demands, every individual has a different thought processes. Adjust to it. Welcome the conversations and keep an open flow of communication. The more your crew is engaged, the more they are actively involved. Let's send everyone home safe today.