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Randy Dombrowski says safety has been pretty much his whole life.
With over 30 years of focus on hazard mitigation and protection, it’s clear why. Today, Dombrowski is the director of security services for Stevens Point, Wis.-based business insurance company Sentry Insurance’s Western Region.
Here, Dombrowski talks with Construction Dive about what top factors to pay attention to in safety communication, how to prioritize sending workers home safely, and how the industry measures success.
The following has been edited for brevity and clarity.
CONSTRUCTION Immersion: Why can it be difficult for a contractor to track safety practices?
RANDY DOMBROWSKI: I think there are three key elements to why this happens.
The first thing is to understand that crews work six or seven days a week. They build superior bonds (friendships) and the last thing they want is to be called a “whistleblower”. So they are very cautious about what they do and how they approach security because of their relationships.
Randy Dombrowski
Permission granted by Sentry Insurance
But they must realize that the only way they can take care of their friend in a potentially dangerous situation is to call it out. They don’t need to run straight to the superintendent, but what they need to do is stop this dangerous exercise right there and make sure they look out for each other if something is overlooked.
Another is the labor shortage. Workers know that their skilled workforce is in high demand within the industry. Your approach to how you work with them proactively with security measures and how you approach things across the team makes all the difference. What they want is support, right?
I’ve experienced this first hand over the last couple of years where company leaders are just drilling their crew members. Just a negative message. They are focused on the things they were doing wrong. Within five minutes, the entire crew is glazed over. No one was listening anymore.
And that’s what we never want to do with security. We always want to take a proactive and positive approach. I’ve also seen the flip side of this, where leaders start off by complimenting and recognizing what they’re doing well, and then perhaps leading to a message of “Here are areas for improvement that we need to focus on.” But allow it to be interactive during these meetings.
Then there are project deadlines. The project schedule can really affect safety. I’ve seen it where a project manager shows up on the job site upset because he won’t make his timeline and everything becomes a rush. So when that happens, security goes by the wayside. It’s sad to see, however, that time management becomes a priority over safety.
So how does a contractor walk that line between empowering everyone to speak, taking the time to do things safely, and making sure the project is delivered on time?
I would just say that a setback with an accident or injury on the job will further extend the project time. Because now you have another area to focus on. That time management problem will still be there, but everyone’s focus will be around what happened and what happened.
I think one of the biggest contributing factors is the amount of time you have to invest in security to get it right. So, let’s say this task or this project will only take me 15 minutes, but it will take me hours to assemble this box of trenches. What do you think they will do?
It’s time management, it’s project time. They have to get to the next project in the afternoon. This is where our focus should be. We have to take this temporary element into account. The project has a schedule. Everyone understands what we have to comply with, but safety comes first. Because if we do it unsafely, like I said, that accident or injury will cost them more time and more trouble to finish on time than anything else.
Are security measures changing for the better?
I think that’s what completes a really good safety program if they have that item or that part. They are measuring what their trends are and how successful they are getting. I think sometimes when we look at the work being done, was it done safely? What is the track record of this company and how are they doing? And I think a well-oiled machine is overseeing it. It’s not having a security plan that collects dust, it’s reviewing that security plan and that other element of security that we’re in, what’s our incident rate? What is our record?
When I’m on a project or giving a presentation at a security meeting, this is one of my conversations. Do you know what your company’s trajectory is? Do you know how safe you are? And that’s really based on your loss and claim experience, right? Well, what is the cause of the losses?
You can only be lucky for so long before accidents and injuries start to appear. And they will come to the surface. Because luck runs out. And that’s where these superior security programs and policies and reinforcement make a big difference. These conversations should take place. And if they’re not, we’re having these conversations with our customers to educate them because there’s no secret that this is what makes a company’s reputation. Workers know who the safe contractors are and who to be careful with.
What can smaller businesses do to improve?
This small business that is having these positive security conversations at the end of the day will stand out. There are many jobs that I went out on the project site and there was no superintendent, there was no job site foreman, but there was always someone who stepped up to the safety leadership role. The person workers knew they could go to for safety if the business owner wasn’t there. And I think a good leader and a good company recognize and adapt when they need to, regardless of size.
