Safety in the workplace is an integral part of caring for the wellbeing of employees. A company has a responsibility to protect its employees and offer them a safe and healthy work environment. Going beyond the wellbeing of employees, safety is playing a bigger role on the business side of the company, says Geotechnology Corporate Risk Manager Joe Darmody.
“Increasingly, clients are using safety statistics as pre-qualifiers and differentiators in the proposal process,” says Darmody. “As part of many prequalification submittals, we are asked to document our safety programs and our path to improvement from a safety perspective; those efforts have only made us stronger as a company in the long-term.”
Geotechnology has always had a strong commitment and focus on safety. Within the past year, under Darmody’s direction, the company has taken additional steps to put safety at the forefront of all parts of the business.
Darmody has been with Geotechnology for nearly ten years in a variety of key positions. In January 2015, he assumed the role as the company’s first full-time Corporate Risk Manager.
“We are in an evolving industry and our safety culture must continue to evolve,” says Darmody. “Overall, we want to make sure our operational teams think more about safety from the beginning of a project with proposals and budgets all the way through completion.”
Darmody is responsible for safety, radiation, insurance, DOT compliance and much more. His previous project management and environmental group management experience helps him integrate safety throughout existing company operations. Better methods of communications have helped the company become even more consistent in its practices.
“We continue to look for ways to keep safety first and foremost throughout the company,” he says. “This is especially important because Geotechnology has grown so much during the past year and brought on many more people. Through newer text-based programs, a robust company-wide intranet and improved email capabilities, we’re now able to reach the entire company on a regular basis, which has made a big difference for us.”
This year began with a Safety Kick-Off event in each of Geotechnology’s 10 offices. Employees signed a banner signified that “I am Committed” to exceeding safety expectations this year and beyond. This comes in addition to safety being designated as one of the company’s six core values in 2015.
Darmody visits each office frequently throughout the year to stress the importance of getting new employees acclimated with the culture of safety. Those opportunities to address safety topics and conduct jobsite safety visits will continue regularly in 2016.
“Throughout our history, we have been committed to establishing and maintaining stringent safety programs,” said President and CEO Ed Alizadeh. “As we expand into new markets, we will incorporate that same high standard for safety across the country.”