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Safety

Our Commitment to Safety

Perry Engineering is committed to getting the project built safely, on time, and within budget. Our employees are our most valuable asset and we want to ensure they return safely home to their families each night. Doing something safely is recognized as an inseparable element of “doing it right”.

Safety Vision

Perry Engineering Co., Inc. will foster a company culture with the highest attention given to safety by employing the principles of the OSHA VPP and Virginia BEST safety and health management systems.

Core elements of OSHA VPP and Virginia BEST safety and health management systems include:

  • Management leadership and employee involvement
  • Worksite analysis
  • Hazard prevention and control
  • Safety and health training

Safety Mission

  • Eliminate serious injuries and fatalities through pre-planning, hazard identification and control, training and coaching, and accountability in all levels of the company and in all job classifications.
  • Site supervisors become safety leaders, engaging employees frequently on safety matters and making decisions with safety the foremost objective.
  • Employees always consider their personal safety and the safety of their fellow workers more important than any other priorities at the time, and feel free to voice safety concerns without fear.

Safety Culture

Safety begins with a commitment from top management and extends throughout the workforce. We have created a safety culture where everyone recognizes that they are responsible for safety, both their own as well as their fellow workers, and are empowered to take action if they see a hazard. Top management is directly involved to ensure safety is priority one. We spend a great deal of time on training to ensure our employees have the knowledge and skills to perform their work safely. Our field supervisors are held accountable for safety through inspections and performance reviews. We also require our subcontractors to uphold our high standards of safety.

Safety Department

Our safety department consists of a full-time Safety Director and a full-time Safety Assistant who are involved in the project from pre-bid to final punch list. They provide program development, training, observation and inspection, analysis, recordkeeping, and serve as liaison with various agencies, municipalities, owners and contractors.

Safety Committee

Our active safety committee is comprised of corporate management, site supervision, and hourly field employees. The committee meets at least monthly to discuss needs, concerns, suggestions, and incidents.

Safety Training

Safety training begins with a new employee safety orientation structured around the employee’s assigned duties. Safety training continues as the employee advances and acquires additional duties and responsibilities. The minimum training that is provided consists of:

Field Supervision

  • OSHA 30-hour Construction Safety Outreach
  • OSHA Competent Person (trenching, confined space, fall protection, ladders, rigging, silica)
  • Advanced (3 days) first aid/CPR certification
  • Underground utility damage prevention
  • VDOT Intermediate Work Zone Traffic Control certification
  • MSHA miner and VA General Mineral Miner (as required)
  • DOT HazMat (as required)
  • VDOT ESCCC Erosion Control
  • VA DEQ Responsible Land Disturber
  • Ongoing annual leadership training through Laurel Ridge Fairfax Community College

Hourly field employees

  • OSHA 10-hour Construction Safety Outreach
  • Basic first aid/CPR certification
  • Underground utility damage prevention
  • MSHA miner and VA General Mineral Miner (as required)
  • DOT HazMat (as required)
  • Daily equipment inspection and daily maintenance (as applicable)

Safety training also includes weekly tailgate safety meetings as well as project safety meetings with field supervision and hourly employees at various points during the project. These include safety kickoffs on new projects and safety stand-downs following an incident or occasions such as the national fall prevention stand-down or the national trench safety stand-down, among others.

Safety Program and Site-Specific Safety Plans

Perry Engineering’s Safety Policy Manual addresses all topics required by federal OSHA and MSHA and state agencies such as VOSH and VDOT, as well as Company specific safety rules that go beyond merely complying with minimum safety requirements. Our Safety Policy Manual is not a dust collector on a shelf but is an integral part of our daily operations.

Site safety includes a thorough review of the project scope of work. A Site-Specific Safety Plan including an Activity Hazard Analysis is prepared for each phase of work so that we can address hazards before they result in a loss. Safety hazards are continually identified, evaluated and controlled through regular safety inspections. Safety Kickoff meetings to review site-specific safety issues are held with each crew and subcontractor for each new phase of work on a project.

All employees have stop-work authority. Any employee who sees an unsafe condition or unsafe practice is authorized to shut down the work until corrections are made.

Virginia BEST Participation

Perry Engineering is a Virginia BEST Level 1 Participant. Virginia BEST is similar to OSHA Challenge and is administered cooperatively by AGC of Virginia and VOSH to encourage construction employers to develop exceptional safety and health management systems. Through Virginia BEST, OSHA recognizes workplaces with excellent safety and health management systems and promotes them as model workplaces. Virginia BEST Participants must demonstrate continuous improvement in the operation and impact of their safety and health management systems. The Virginia BEST Program recognizes the very best construction employers that are in compliance with VOSH standards and that operate outstanding safety and health management systems.

Incident Investigation

Should a safety related incident occur, including a near miss, an investigation is conducted to determine exactly what happened and what needs to be done to prevent it from reoccurring. The lessons learned from the investigation are communicated to all field supervision and hourly employees via meetings, stand-downs, training, and/or memos.

Employee Safety Awards

We reward employees for doing proactive things that promote safety while avoiding rewards based solely on luck or non-reporting. Some of our reward programs include:

  • Safe Employee of the Month nomination program wherein an employee’s supervisor or peer can submit a nomination describing something specific the employee has done to improve or promote safety. Nominations are reviewed and the monthly winner receives a monetary award as well as public recognition in the local newspaper.
  • Safety Suggestion programs wherein individual employees or an entire crew can submit a suggestion to improve a safety hazard. The suggestions are reviewed and ones that are chosen for adoption receive monetary awards and recognition. Some of our best safety solutions have come from the field this way.
  • Quarterly and annual crew safety awards in which the safety activities and performance of the crews are evaluated and the best performing crew from each division receives a monetary award as well as company swag and company-wide recognition.

Results

Our safety efforts have produced results which we are proud to present:

  • Virginia BEST Level 1 Participant
  • 2019, 2020, 2021 & 2022 AGC Willis-Towers-Watson Construction Safety Excellence Award recipient
  • 2020, 2022 HBAV Builders Mutual Safety Program of the Year recipient
  • 2019 Lord Fairfax Emergency Medical Services Council Regional Award for Outstanding Safety & Health Excellence
  • Achieved over 1 million work hours (4.7 years) without a lost-workday injury
  • No OSHA citations in nearly 10 years