The winner of ASCC’s first Owner Safety Award was Keith Wayne , CEO of Wayne Brothers, Inc. The award was presented on September 15 during ASCC's Annual Conference in Minneapolis.
“The first goal of ASCC's strategic plan is to ‘increase the number of owners who truly demonstrate a personal commitment to safety," said Safety & Risk Management Council chairman Scott Greenhaus. As part of meeting that goal, ASCC created this new award to recognize an owner who stands above the rest when it comes to creating and living out a true culture of safety for his company.
“We were very pleased to have had 12 entries,” said Greenhaus. “For the first year we thought that was very good. We also had a nice mix of small to large companies.”
Describing why Keith Wayne was chosen for the award, Greenhaus said, “This is not the first time this company has been recognized for its safety culture. The person selected to receive the inaugural Owner Safety Award has won numerous safety accolades from ASCC, ABC, AGC and numerous local organizations, as well as many other honors not safety related.
“This company works a little over 800,000 man hours annually. For the past three years they have had an RIR of 2.68 and an average EMR of 0.91. The EMR has gone down each year over the last three years with a Mod of 0.76 in 2015. Since August 31,2015, the company has worked 600,610 hours and eight months without an accident.” Also, Wayne Brothers employees drove over 2 million miles without an accident.
Nominations for the Owner Safety Award are made by the company’s employees. In nominating Keith Wayne, Wayne Brothers employees noted that prior to 2007 it was certainly the owner's intention to provide a safe work environment, but it was not the #1 priority. That year Keith Wayne started on a journey to make Wayne Brothers a safer company. Over the past nine years, his employees wrote, he has worked to implement new safety initiatives, policies, and procedures to ensure that safety is the #1 priority on all projects.
Some of the steps Wayne Brothers has adopted to truly make safety its top priority include:
- A pre-employment screening, which includes pre-employment and random drug testing, a drug-free work environment, and zero tolerance policy, plus physical and fit-for-duty exams.
- New employee orientation and safety training for all employees on their first day of work.
- Job site safety orientation specific to each employee’s onsite job tasks.
- Daily pre-task planning that focuses on daily work tasks and related risks.
- Weekly safety "tool box" talks.
- Weekly safety instructions including a 24-week safety program.
- Specialized safety training activities including OSHA 10/30 hour competent person, trench, and confined space training.
To accomplish all this, Keith Wayne took the following actions:
- Hired four full-time safety professionals, including a safety director and three field safety supervisors,
- hired two full-time bilingual trainers who are OSHA trained,
- elicited the expertise of a chiropractor to develop a stretching program for the purpose of reducing debilitating soft-tissue injuries,
- initiated a safety incentive program that rewards employees who attain the goal of zero accidents,
- and, addressed personal accountability for safety actions with a stringent disciplinary policy.
In accepting the award Wayne said, "Receiving the inaugural Safety Award from my peers at ASCC is truly a humbling experience for me. Some ten years ago our shareholders , officers, and leadership team made the commitment to become a best in class safety culture. Since then, with unwavering commitment, our entire team has pursued this culture change which has been transformational. The results have been so beneficial and is the reason I believe I was chosen to receive this honor. I am so grateful to all of the members of the association for this award."
