It’s that time of year again – Construction Safety Week is here! At Bremik, we’re passionate about making safety a top priority, and this week was dedicated to reinforcing our commitment to creating safer worksites for everyone on our teams. Throughout the week, we visited multiple job sites, handed out new gear and engaged with our teams to discuss two themes: The National Construction Safety Week theme of Valuing Every Voice and the Importance of Heat Stress Prevention.
Safety Director Jake Bishop, a long-tenured employee of Bremik, understands how important it is to create learning opportunities that people can relate to. As a former laborer and project, he takes special care to present safety information that he knows firsthand will help improve efficiencies and prevent injuries or accidents. Jake led the charge this week and shared that he “chose to focus on topics that would be relevant to the field staff and relevant to the season”. With summer approaching, reminders about staying cool on the jobsite and looking for warnings of heat stress are imperative.
Here is a glimpse of the topics covered plus photos from Bremik sites throughout the week:
Value Every Voice
- Drive personal ownership: take responsibility for your own safety and the safety of others
- Encourage and welcome new ideas: ask questions, challenge norms, and share different ideas in a collaborative and more effective manner
- Embrace every voice: create an environment where every team member feels valued and heard. When people are heard, morale and engagement improves, teams are more productive and a variety of ideas are brought to the conversation
- Strengthen our culture: we all have something to contribute when it comes to safety, and it is important to demonstrate that every voice matters. Diversity of thought creates more efficient and effective solutions and helps teams take ownership of preventing incidents together.
Heat Stress
The Bremik Safety Team covered OSHA’s heat stress prevention requirements, which included reminders to provide workers with access to shaded areas, cool break rooms with ventilation, and ready access to cool drinking water. In addition, when temperatures reach 90 degrees or above, hourly checks on employees and break intervals should be established. If temperatures reach 100 degrees or above Bremik will stop all work unless we are able to lower the temperature through other means.
As Construction Safety Week draws to a close, let’s carry forward the invaluable lessons learned and continue valuing every voice in all our endeavors. Thank you to Jake Bishop, Kaitlin Schauer and the Safety Committee for putting together a great week of events.
At Bremik, safety isn’t just a priority – it’s a guiding principle that shapes our actions every day. Together, let’s continue to build a culture of safety!
