PLH GROUP NEWS
Health and Safety Program Keeps Employees Safe + Sound
Date: August 15, 2022
Employees from TTR Substations attend Foreman’s Academy, an element of PLH Group’s company-required training.
PLH Group is committed to continually enhancing its safety culture because all workers should return home safely at the end of each day. The foundation of safe work practices arises from a robust health and safety plan. In recognition of OSHA’s Safe + Sound Week (August 15-21), PLH Group identifies components of a successful health and safety program and how to continually enhance it.
According to OSHA, the three elements of a successful health and safety plan are Management Leadership, Worker Participation, and Finding and Fixing Hazards. These three components each have their own goals but work harmoniously together to produce successful results.
PLH Group’s comprehensive health and safety plan not only reaches all business units, but also all levels of the organization. It applies just as much to those in the office as it does to field workers.
“In order for a health and safety plan to apply to all employee roles and responsibilities, it must integrate OSHA’s three elements of a successful plan. Without Management Leadership, Worker Participation, and Finding and Fixing Hazards, we would have a stagnant plan that is unrelatable to our employees,” said Vice President of Safety, Health, and Environmental Elsie Bentley. “Instead, we have a robust program that employees are continually enhancing through active participation. That is what an effective health and safety plan looks like!”
PLH Group’s Vice President of Safety, Health, and Environmental Elsie Bentley participates in OSHA’s Electrical Transmission and Distribution (ET&D) Partnership renewal ceremony at the U.S. Department of Labor in Washington D.C.
Management Leadership
The PLH Group management team is whole-heartedly committed to a health and safety program that lays a solid foundation for the organization. An example of this is OSHA’s Electrical Transmission and Distribution (ET&D) Partnership program. PLH Group and 12 other organizations formed a strategic cooperative program under the U.S. Department of Labor with the goal of reducing injuries, illnesses, and death among linemen and other electrical workers. Since the establishment of the strategic partnership in 2004, member companies continue to work together toward this goal of protecting employees throughout the industry.
Worker Participation
PLH Group offers employees a robust orientation and training curriculum. Mandatory training for employees – both in the office and the field – is an industry-leading 3-day orientation that covers expectations and responsibilities relevant to PLH Group work. This includes health, safety, environmental, and ethical expectations. Field employees must then also complete OSHA 10 (10-hour training), and supervisors must then also complete OSHA 30 (30- hour training) and/or a combination of OSHA 10 and PLH Group’s Foreman’s Academy or OSHA 20 (20-hour training).
Additional training programs that PLH Group offers employees depending on their work-related responsibilities include, but are not limited to:
- Foreman’s Academy
- DOL Approved Apprenticeship Program
- CDL Training Program
- CPR and First Aid
- Defensive Driving
- Specific Operator Training
- Forklift and Front-End
- Dozers
- New Hire Orientation
- OSHA 30
- OSHA 10
- Drill Rigs Light and Heavy Cranes
- Specialized Wire Stringing Equipment
- Other Miscellaneous Equipment
Finding and Fixing Hazards
At the beginning of each shift, workers have a pre-job meeting where they learn their tasks for the day, as well as discuss health and safety concerns. It is also routine for crews to perform hazard identification assessments. Employees use the PREVENT program – a collection of tools designed to integrate safe work practices into every step of the task – to proactively identify and mitigate hazards. Employees also understand they have Stop Work Responsibility, meaning employees have not only the authority, but the responsibility to stop work if a situation seems unsafe.
PLH Group prides itself on its health and safety program. This is not only because of the foundational elements of the program, but also because of the way employees take responsibility of the program to continually make PLH Group work sites Safe + Sound every day.
