The construction industry’s focus on safety over the last several decades has resulted in practices and procedures that are now commonplace. Procedures, such as job site safety orientations and daily work plans, were the exception 15 years ago but are now a normal way of doing business. The strides the construction industry has made to improve safety over the last 30 years is both remarkable and admirable due to the number of injuries prevented. As an industry however, quality management systems are in their relative infancy. As skilled workers age out of the workforce, designs and materials become more complex, and fewer workers enter the trades, the need to develop and accelerate the adoption of effective quality procedures becomes more critical.
The link between quality and safety is widely accepted; as rework increases so do safety incidents, with a nearly one-to-one correlation. Likewise, quality management programs and safety management are similar in that they both use a proactive approach for managing risk. Those similarities should lead us to look for strategies, which are already ingrained in our industry’s safety culture, to advance quality management practices. Strategies such as site-specific safety plans, safety orientation and daily work plans are all commonplace in the industry and with some thoughtful changes could provide a framework for more effective quality management plans.
Generally, SSSPs are developed by the project team with technical assistance from the organization’s safety professional to manage safety exposures unique to a project (industrial hygiene exposures for example), and those exposures that are common but considered high-risk (falls from heights). Similarly, a Site-Specific Quality Management Plan (SSQMP) should address unique and high-risk “quality” exposures. Both documents, when compared to the organization’s corporate safety plan or OSHA regulations, are brief with a narrow focus on specific risks and controls.
Two Worlds Collide – Enhancing Quality Through Safety Practices
Consider the use of Site-Specific Safety Plans (SSSPs)
It has taken more than 30 years and the efforts of some of the industry’s most dedicated professionals to develop the safety culture the industry enjoys today. Adapting the best of those “means and methods” could accelerate your company’s goal of improving quality and take your company’s safety performance to the next level.
Our goal as your partner is not only to offer a policy but also to assist you in avoiding or mitigating losses through the sharing of best practices. Doing so allows us to remain consistent in our pricing and program structure. We fully expect claims; we would not exist if they did not occur. However, we want to try to limit those claims that could have been prevented or, at the least, better managed.
©2023 Hudson Insurance Group. The information contained in this newsletter is for general information only and shall not modify the terms of any insurance policy.
SDI Newsletter | January 2023
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