Safety

Trac-Work, Inc. employs a full time professional Safety Coordinator with over 18 years experience. The Coordinator creates, manages and documents safety initiatives and programs appropriate to our heavy construction classification. He reports directly to the Executive Committee (President and Vice President) to ensure top management involvement in each new direction. Loss control efforts encompass everything from OSHA-FRA-EPA compliance to DOT fleet management of over 100 highway vehicles.

The design of Trac-Work, Inc. safety programs centers on the principle that “what gets measured is what gets done.” Every level of our work force has specific responsibilities and safety tasks. Each of our foremen, superintendents, and area managers are continuously held accountable for routinely performing many safety tasks to ensure the fundamental ingredient for the success of any safety program: INVOLVEMENT.

Involvement in safety is not restricted to management. In 1994, Trac-Work, Inc. began a successful Safety Committee program which has proven to be a cornerstone of our safety improvement efforts. Each team is led by a superintendent and consists of a Safety Observer and Foreman from each crew. The agenda for their monthly meeting is set by the Safety Director. Each committee pools experience from diverse perspectives spanning numerous years of railroad background. They systematically review data and provide reports to analyze our accident experience for future training applications. An overall formalization of our on the job training is the tangible goal of their efforts.

Trac-Work, Inc. subscribes to the behavioral school of safety management. We understand that accident prevention is achieved by a constant focus on human behavior rather than programs geared to emphasize plant and equipment safeguards (although they have their place in any good program). The Safety Observer on each crew is empowered by management to assist his Foreman in safeguarding that crew at work. The Observer is a regular working member of the team with an additional duty to forestall accidents before they can occur. He stops the action, makes a correction and releases the activity to continue.

We have reached out in many directions to assure that our safety management is the best that it can be. We stay abreast of new ideas in the field by maintaining active membership in many safety groups and regional safety councils. Involvement in such groups allows us to benchmark our efforts against others with successful programs.

Over the period 1992-1996, Trac-Work, Inc. reduced its workers compensation insurance modifier (EMR) from a high of 1.87 to an enviable .68 and we have a recent 5 year average of .77.  Even a successful safety program cannot afford to rest on its laurels.