A Look Back at 2018 and What Lies Ahead

As we begin the new year, it’s a good time to reflect on what we did not get done last year and to remember all the things we accomplished. SCCA’s Safety Committee had a great 2018 and is hitting the ground running for 2019.

To start, I want to thank all the SCCA members who have been part of the Safety Committee, not only sending personnel to monthly meetings but also reaching out when they needed help. The Safety Committee would not be here if not for everyone’s contributions.

The Safety Committee was formed in 2004 by Nelson McIntyre to provide safety education and support to our members. Rick McCourt, Mike Crawford, Paul Von Berg, Jim Burton, Karen Patin, and Gerry McEwen created a Mission Statement, as well as Goals and Objectives, and began meeting each month. Since then, the committee has grown to more than 40 members and it continues to grow. In 2018:

• Membership and attendance increased. Each meeting involved discussions and feedback on actual incidents, questions about how to handle safety issues, and frequently, presentations from guests or Safety Committee members. The presentations were varied and included Edison, Dig Alert, Active Shooter, Site to Citation, CAL/OSHA Silica Presentation, Random Drug Testing and Excavation, and Confined Space. More than 135 members and guests attended.
• Several Safety Committee members wrote articles for the SCCA Magazine.
• 75 people attended the Annual Safety Banquet in March, with guest speaker Cliff Meidl speaking about his accident and recovery. And 23 members received awards for either zero or minimal incidents for the year. That is amazing, and we are working to make those numbers even better.
• The committee reached out to SCCA members via phone and emails to introduce ourselves to members. We created an email list of safety personnel in members’ safety departments.
• We sent Safety Tips to members. In the future, we hope to have a voice in Sacramento and send our comments and concerns about OSHA administrative rule proposals.

Our mission statement is: The SCCA Safety Committee is devoted to the promotion of Health and Safety for its members and the construction industry. The Safety Committee exists to motivate, educate and guide and support each member toward a Zero Accident Culture.

Over the years, the committee has worked to achieve these goals, and in the future, we want to be more accessible to SCCA members and work even harder to make the Mission Statement a reality. We believe the Safety Committee has earned a great reputation throughout SCCA and will gain even more respect as we strive to achieve our mission.

We invite all SCCA members to become active in the Safety Committee, even if you can’t have someone at the meetings each month. Send us your Safety Department email addresses so we can keep you involved. We are here to help.