Do you recall the blog we shared this past spring that explained the nuts and bolts of our focus on jobsite safety? If you missed it, you can find it right here.

In summary, we discussed the details of how exactly we keep our team safe from the time they arrive in the morning to when they leave at the end of the day. Safety is woven right into our culture, and is a shared focus through every layer and department of our company.

Making safety such an essential part of who we are became a priority about five years ago after a frightening wake-up call that came in the form of a serious workplace injury. We stepped back, assessed our procedures, and, in partnership with Assurance, we rebuilt our safety culture from top to bottom.

We’re extremely pleased (and proud) to announce that we just received the 2016 MRMH Safety Award from Assurance in recognition of the effectiveness of our new procedures.

Why Did We Win This Award?

“Increased safety” is important, but it’s a tough statement to really wrap your mind around in concrete terms. So, here’s a closer, clearer look at what our safety culture has made possible:

• Increased sense of teamwork and shared responsibility
• $244,000 saved in Workers’ Compensation
• 47% reduction in our EMR (Experience Modification Rating), putting our organization well below 1.0
• 5 years without a job-site accident
• Equipping and protecting our team helps to reinforce their sense of value and worth

What Does Our Safety Culture Include at Painters USA?

Here are a few key elements:

• All our painters are OSHA 10 certified
• 50% of our painters are OSHA 30 certified
• Site-specific safety training
• 4-year certified apprentice program
• 3rd party random safety audits (16 per year)
• Required daily job site safety risk assessments (over 6800 per year)
• Job site safety audits (internal audits by our Field Operations staff – 600 per year)
• Dedicated Safety Manager to handle training and assessments of job sites
• Ongoing training and certification for our team
• ...and more!

A Huge Thanks to Assurance and to Our Painters USA Team

Assurance has been a wonderful partner in our efforts, and we sincerely appreciate both their support and this achievement award.

We also would like to thank our team. They are the hands and feet of our initiatives, and they have done an exceptional job of catching and implementing this vision for a safer, better place to work.