PLH GROUP NEWS
PLH Group Safety Summit Exceeds Expectations
Date: December 7, 2015
The Annual PLH Group Safety, Health & Environmental Summit was held on November 17-18, 2015 in Grapevine, Texas. Almost 100 employees attended, including a selection of senior management, Safety Directors from every SBU and a record eight SBU Presidents. The Safety Summit started with opening remarks from President & CEO Mark Crowson, re-iterating that Safety is fundamental to the way we work and live, one of the four PLH Group Core Values. The annual Safety Summit is an example of the substantial commitment PLH Group has for Safety, Health and Environmental.
To kick off the summit, keynote speaker Heath Slawer introduced “Start With Why”, applying the author’s concepts to the PLH Group Safety Department motto, “Because We Care”. Every attendee received a copy of the book, “Start With Why”, written by Simon Sinek. (Contact Julie Griffith to receive a copy. Quantities are limited.)
The afternoon session was especially well received, Teresa Schneider out did herself again this year with the Vehicle Inspection and Driver Simulators (thanks to Del Mar College) display in the hotel parking lot. Each participant “walked the plank” with the police officers from Grapevine PD revealing vehicle DOT violations. (See the short video)
In another breakout session, Jim Sullivan of Prospan Shoring and Mike Kelly of The Start Group had the audience captivated by displaying new shoring technology and laydown traffic strips for work zone protection.
Every year the Safety, Health & Environmental Summit choses a non-profit that employs or teaches safe practices. This year, Love For Kids was chosen since one of their program offerings includes annual safe bike riding tips, helmet checks and bicycle checks. PLH Group’s donation this year will help to finance the Safe Bike Week events. Read about our Summit donation to Love For Kids.
On day two, Jeret Whitescarver, Safety Director of Snelson Companies shared a real life safety experience by exposing the details of a possible life-changing incident. It was the turnaround in awareness of one of his field crew members when he came to understand the importance of stopping and conducting a thorough incident investigation even when no one was hurt. As Jeret explained, “it was a perfect example of the PLH Group core values of integrity, safety, professionalism and teamwork. The message was clear, stop the job and find the root cause of the incident. This is who we are. We do not want this to happen again.”
Day two also included OSHA expert Melissa Bailey from Ogletree Deakins, a law firm that specializes labor and employment issues. Melissa provided compliance advice on complex workplace safety issues and the latest update from OSHA’s regulatory agenda. Rule changes such as electronic filing of OSHA logs and new financial penalties is important information for all the PLH Group Safety Directors to understand.
The Safety Summit for 2015 concluded with a brief overview from each SBU, providing and update on the Safety, Health and Environmental Excellence Program. Highlights, were the RB Hinkle “Above and Beyond” Safety Excellence program which sets a perfect example of how to encourage daily vigilance for a safe working environment. Air2 has a similar program they shared called “The Safety Posse”. More information about these programs can be found here and here.
In conclusion, Matt Compher reminded everyone that the Safety and Health of each employee throughout PLH Group is more than a priority; it is a value that is ingrained in the way we conduct our business and live our lives.
