Building a Culture of Safety is Primary to Success

RCS Influencer Marty Stout says that a culture of safety saves lives and is the right thing to do.

The topic of safety relates to one that we discussed earlier this year about company culture. Safety needs to be a part of the way everyone thinks and operates. This is not easy in the roofing world everyone wants to get done and go home and while on the way home brag about how fast they got it done or how "Superman" they were in the process. If we have worked on the roof, we ALL did. I still drive by jobs I worked on 40+ years ago and tell the story of death-defying feats I did to get it done. My family, now including grandkids, is tired of hearing about it. 

Building a culture of safety is primary to success. Not because it saves money but because it saves lives and is the right thing to do.

Building the culture requires buy in from everyone. It requires constant reminders and training at every level. If you have standards that you require of your employees, you must require them of your subcontractors. If you have standards for your on-the-roof staff, you must have standards for your back office staff.

Recognizing safe work is a big boost to morale. When you see someone doing the right thing praise them. Even little things can matter. Find something positive to point out however small it may be and point it out in a big way. Help people see that you really care. Be convinced yourself that the reason is you care about the people that are working for you and that you care about the people they care about or more importantly the people that depend on them. Remember they don't come to work to help your family they come to work to help their families.

I guess I am saying if you get safety in your heart it will be in your people's hearts.

Martin Stout is president of Go Roof Tune Up, Inc.  See his full bio here.