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Polk’s Construction Safety Jobs Practices

“Safety isn’t expensive, it’s priceless.” – Author Unknown

Each year, Polk celebrates the achievements of our collective workforce in construction safety jobs during National Construction Safety Week. Construction Safety Week falls on September 14-18 for this year, and discusses several important safety topics for each day. Let’s dive into how Polk’s construction safety jobs practices align with these topics, and how we are dedicated to ensuring our employees’ safety both on and off the jobsite.

Construction Safety Jobs Practices

Day 1: Built on Safety

Polk proves that a zero-loss workplace is possible, and brings this belief onto every jobsite for every employee. We’ve had multiple safety records, including 4 years and 2 million man hours without a recordable. With our award-winning “Is it Safe? Make it Safe!” program integrated into our construction safety jobs practices, we will continue to make records like this. In addition, we’ve also won multiple safety awards including:

  • 2020 AGC National Safety Excellence Award
  • 2019 ABC Top 150 Safety Performer
  • 2018 ABC National Craft Champion Safety Award

This is only the beginning for us, we will continue to achieve more and strive for better workplace safety. At our core, we believe employees are essential. Therefore, it’s essential to keep them safe so they can continue to serve our communities.

Day 2: Focus on the Fundamentals 

Our fundamentals are the foundation of our safety program. It’s how we ensure active participation in safety from every employee on a jobsite. Some of our fundamentals at Polk include assessing hazards each day. Additionally, we give our employees the opportunity to stop work if they feel the environment is unsafe. The PATH form stands for Primary Assessment of Tasks and Hazards, and our employees complete it each day on every project. The Safety Stop Work Card is a physical card each employee carries that they can use to stop work without penalty if they feel the conditions are unsafe. Polk uses both of these construction safety jobs practices to support our fundamentals and ensure our employees’ wellbeing on each jobsite.

Day 3: COVID-19 Safety

This year has presented the unique challenge of addressing new hazards on the jobsite each day. During the pandemic, construction workers have been made “essential,” meaning they perform critical infrastructure operations and must continue work. Their communities and their country need them. This is why Polk has worked hard to protect our essential employees against COVID-19 with new construction safety jobs practices.

In addition to new protocols, Polk provided PPE supplies such as masks to employees. Our health benefits also make it easy to access care, and we decided to waive costs for anything related to COVID-19. Our construction safety jobs practices may have widened to account for coronavirus, but our employees took it with grace and remained strong. We thank our employees for wearing their masks, getting temperature checks, washing their hands frequently, and staying at home if they are unwell.

Day 4: Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) 

In addition to our many rigorous safety protocols, PPE provides a first line of defense for construction workers. Polk is dedicated to protecting our employees against hazards. This is why we provide PPE such as eye glasses at no cost as part of our construction jobs practices. We require each employee on every jobsite to have the proper eye, foot, head, and hearing protection. In some cases, we may also require specialized equipment to reduce exposure to hazards.

Day 5: Thank you, #PolkNation

The last day of Construction Safety Week is about thanking our employees for their hard work and dedication to getting the job done in a safe manner. We recognize #PolkNation for their achievements each day on the jobsite and for following our construction safety jobs practices. You are essential not only to our operations, but to the country as a whole. We couldn’t make such a positive impact on our communities without you. Thank you for showing up and getting the job done while following safety principles. You make safety important each and every week!

As you can see, Polk commits to safety. We make it an integral part of every jobsite. Our construction safety jobs practices aren’t for show, they are for making sure our employees get home every night to their families without injury. We will continue to innovate our practices to address new hazards, such as COVID-19, and wholeheartedly celebrate Construction Safety Week each year.

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