Coming off a year with a company-record Total Recordable Incident Rate (TRIR), Maxim still refuses to take its foot off the gas when it comes to safety.
It’s no coincidence that this year’s Construction Safety Week theme, “All in Together,” is reminiscent of the Maxim mantra “Rise with Us.”
After all, safety is nothing without a collective effort. When you protect yourself, you protect others. When you look out for your colleague, they look out for you.
When 230-ton cranes are involved, complacency is dangerous. Lack of preparation has real consequences. Safety demands the absolute best out of each and every person on and off a construction site.
To that, we say, we are so glad that we have the best.
The proof is in the numbers. In 2024, Maxim reached a company record for TRIR, which was even better than previous years. For reference, the average TRIR for the construction industry is 1.7.
“It feels awesome to know that our entire team has proven themselves to be committed to taking care of each other,” said John Costello, Maxim sub-regional safety representative. “I feel strongly that our team has an intrinsic motivation to reach excellence in safety.”
This, of course, doesn’t happen overnight. A culture of safety is built brick by brick and requires buy-in from everyone.
“Safety demands that everyone gets involved,” said Costello. “Protecting our people has to be everyone’s first priority on a job site.”
So, how do you build this?
The answer is simple. You just do it.
“In practice, a dedication to safety means simply putting it first,” said Costello. “Even if it’s more expensive, even if it’s time-consuming, safety remains our number one priority. Anytime my colleagues and I are faced with a decision, we ask ourselves: First and foremost, is the safety of our employees and the customer the most important thing affecting our decision?”
Once you establish safety as the priority, there are a few more things you can do to ensure you’re building a culture of safety.
#1: Listen – A key part of ensuring that safety remains the driving force of every decision is showing up and listening. As a safety representative, Costello visits 25 Maxim job sites every month to audit them for safety.
In his audits, he looks for key indicators of safety. Is everyone wearing proper PPE? Is everything clean and organized? Is there a clear indicator of where the job site starts and ends?
Most of all, he listens. He personally shakes the hand of every single Maxim employee on site and asks them: How is it going? Do you feel safe? Have you noticed any hazards that we should correct? Do you feel empowered to stop work if necessary?
This information is golden. After all, no one knows a job site better than the people on it.
#2: Make time for it – Maxim hosts quarterly safety meetings where safety goals are established, everyone brushes up on best practices, and the team unites to ask questions and get on the same page.
“Sometimes when you’re out on a job site, operators can feel like they’re on an island. The quarterly meetings are just one way we get people engaged, bring people face to face, eat some good food, give out gifts, and feel united together.”
#3: Build real trust – “My goal is to create a strong line of communication, so that if someone comes and tells me something they want to change or address, they know that I’ll take action,” said Costello.
“If someone is speaking up and saying something to me, I take that very seriously. It’s my job to let that person know I value them bringing something to my attention.” Costello even gives the team hats or T-shirts when they report a near miss or implement Stop Work Authority. This establishes that speaking up is not a nuisance, it’s mission critical.
#4: Stay committed – “It’s a lot of pressure to keep up the precedent we set in 2024, but that’s good. We invite pressure,” said Costello. “We never want to be complacent. We want to be continuously improving and rising together. Any goal that challenges us to keep our people safer is one we always want to pursue.”
Construction Safety Week: We Can Always Do Better
We invite you to celebrate Construction Safety Week with us. For more events and information about Construction Safety Week, click here.
