New STEP Focus: Workers’ Overall Wellness

By Mary Lou Jay for Building Washington Magazine

For over 30 years, ABC has helped contractors protect the physical safety of their employees on the job site through the STEP Safety Management System. Now the association is expanding on STEP with the introduction of the Total Human Health Initiative, or THHI. THHI “encompasses actions, initiatives and policies that emphasize the health, well-being and livelihoods of workers … [it incorporates] a whole-person approach to engage a person’s body, mind, heart and soul.”

Toolkit Provides Roadmap to Wellness

The people who developed THHI included construction industry and safety professionals and mental health professionals. The committee members ref- erenced resources like the National Institutes of Health’s Emotional Wellness Toolkit, and information from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration and the National Alliance on Mental Illness.

The results of their efforts can be found on ABC’s Total Human Health Initiative (abc.org/Safety/Total-Human-Health) resources page. The page has links to materials that companies can use during Suicide Prevention Month in September, such as posters, social medial toolkits and toolbox talks. The page also provides links to articles and resources that companies can share with their workers.

In the Total Human Health Resources for Leadership section, companies will find a comprehensive toolkit developed specifically for this program as well as an assessment they can use to determine where they are on the road to promoting total human health.

The toolkit contains suggested activities that companies can use to encourage conversations about each area with small groups of employees or with the entire company. It provides detailed, step-by-step instructions for toolbox talks, workshops and helping employees create their own personal wellness toolkits.

The Total Human Health Assessment provides a way for contractors to measure how far they have progressed (or need to progress) in each of THHI’s four categories. It lists questions that companies should ask themselves, and provides four scoring categories: “Not on our radar,” “Planning phase,” Under construction,” and “Fully integrated.” It also provides specific steps that companies can take to improve their performance and move up the scale.

As summer draws to a close, ABC Keystone members gathered together to celebrate summer with a great night of networking, food and music at John Wright Restaurant in Wrightsville, PA.

The Chapter welcomed our newest members:

• C&N Bank - York, PA

• DEWALT® - Towson, MD

• Lancaster Prefinishing - Lancaster, PA

• Reflections Window Washing, LLC - Huntingdon, PA

• S&T Bank - Lancaster, PA

• Sherwin-Williams® - Harrisburg, PA

• Temporary Wall Systems Allentown-Lancaster Honey Brook, PA

• The Contractors Plan® - Austin, TX

Thank You To Our Presenting Sponsor

JIM WILLSHIER ABC KEYSTONE, DIRECTOR OF GOVERNMENT AFFAIRS

Elections: Are Right Around the Corner.

As August arrives, more people scramble to cram in last-minute vacations before the kids return to school or prepare for another football season. While it may seem far off, look at this month as being that much closer to our next important election.

Our municipal elections will be on November 7, and includes local offices that are key to our personal and work lives: school board, county commissioner, judges, and others that are too long to list depending on where you live. There are also some critical dates between now and then, like the last day to register for voting (October 23). But here’s the crucial question about those dates: do you know who you’re voting for? If you don’t know the answer to that question or where those candidates stand on key issues, you need to start doing homework between now and then.

This election is knocking on your front door, whether it’s concern about culture wars in your school system, construction projects you’re directly involved in or will see in your community, or where your local tax dollars are being spent. Judicial races will determine legal precedents, and for our state supreme court, that will bring us several vital decisions for their ten year-term.

I would like your attention to start looking into who is running for your local races and find opportunities to meet with them as they attend as many public events as possible on the way to Election Day. There will be more endorsements for local candidates coming forward that might help inform you, too (ABC Keystone has a political action committee but is not making formal endorsements in any races this fall). The most crucial part is that you plan to vote and know who you will vote for in November.

For anyone still skeptical or not concerned, please read through past issues of this publication, and read about local Responsible Contractor Ordinances (RCOs) adopted by these same local officials and potentially will be before a judge in the near future. Think about how invested your public officials are in the community and how much they know about your company. This is your last opportunity to reach out to educate them on what you’re doing in the community as much as you need to educate yourself on those running for office.

The consequences of not doing so will have a ripple effect for years to come.