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North American Construction Journal
10
“Once you have been trained … you have to be accountable for your own safety and the safety of those you’re working with. We have no tolerance for someone working unsafely.” - CEO Glenn Sherrill
Safety Steps
SteelFab goes well beyond posting the usual informational signs and holding toolbox talks to keep its work force up to date on the company’s safety initiatives. Sherrill says “the number one thing that has helped us when we hire new people is that we bring them through our safety training first.”
“We have a dedicated network of crane operators that we use. We’ve found that most of the bad injuries that happen involve the crane, so we continuously do training for those guys,” Sherrill notes.
Staff Replenishment and Retention
“Once you have been trained if you do something that is unsafe, you’re sent home for three days without pay. If you do something twice that’s unsafe we say ‘This job just isn’t for you and you need to go find another job.’ You have to be accountable for your own safety and the safety of those you’re working with. We have no tolerance for someone working unsafely,” Sherrill stresses.
The company has taken a proactive approach to dealing with the industry wide problem of replacing an aging work force. It has partnerships with a local high school in proximity to each plant to provide summer internships to students interested in pursuing a career in the industry. SteelFab also has partnerships with NC State, UNCC, Georgia Tech, Texas A & M and The Citadel for the recruiting of estimators, project managers and engineers. Following their sophomore year, students work in the office. After their junior year they are exposed to plant operations.
That is especially true of crane operators.
Under the program, interns earn $15 per hour plus available overtime; are
As far as the company is concerned, working safely is an obligation and there are serious consequences for not doing so.
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