EV Construction trains nearly 300 people during safety week.

HOLLAND, Mich., March 23, 2022 —EV Construction, a leading West Michigan construction management firm, hosted its seventh annual Safety Week last week. The 2022 event, “YOU Are Safety,” was held Monday, March 14 through Thursday, March 17 at Watermark Country Club in Grand Rapids, Michigan. During the course of the week, 293 people were trained from over 70 West Michigan companies.

The symposium on Monday included several impactful presentations. As is tradition, the event started with a demonstration aimed at honoring and remembering those who passed as the result of a workplace accident in 2021. MIOSHA has 42 documented deaths for 2021 including men and women who were killed as the result of an accidental fall, electrocution or machine that struck or crushed them, among others. Following the Michigan fatalities demonstration attendees heard from Dan Vos, President and CEO of Dan Vos Construction Company (DVCC). Dan spoke to the audience about an accident the company experienced a few years back and the permanent impact that resulted.

Following Dan, Calvin Stuart took the stage. Calvin is the Employee Development Coordinator at Welch Tile. Calvin too experienced an accident, but a personal one. Both stories drove home the importance of safety inside and outside the workplace.

Though challenging to hear, all of these stories shared a common denominator – life-altering and life-ending accidents that could have been prevented. Many injuries are the result of somebody becoming complacent when the task is familiar. Had greater care and caution been practiced, fewer accidents would have resulted. How many times have we all said, “it will only take a minute,” or, “I’ve done this 1,000 times.” The stories above served as strong reminders to always follow safe practices.

Following these impactful presentations and hearing the stories of caution, the tone of symposium shifted to prevention. Pat Karol, President of Karol Safety Consulting and former Safety Manager for ARAMARK Corporation and Delta Airlines shared his presentation, “Selling Safety to the Front-Line Employee” about securing buy-in for safe working habits from employees and coworkers. Pat stated that each safety program should have vision, knowledge and heart. Employees should have clearly defined expectations, accessibility to needed trainings, materials and gear and know their efforts are appreciated. Employers should provide consistent messaging, positive reinforcement and definitive, measurable goals. Most of all, Pat encouraged those in the room to ask themselves and their coworkers about their, “why?” What is it that they live for? Make safety personal.

The Alive365 Symposium on Safety continued with break-out sessions, offering a forum for conversation amongst peers. During the break-out sessions, participants were encouraged to share their biggest roadblocks when implementing and/or enforcing safety corporately and then share their wins and success stories for others to try. At the end of the day, over 56 companies participated in this year’s Safety Symposium in an effort to increase the safety standards in West Michigan.

Also during the week, EV Construction offered free training sessions to industry professionals in several practice areas, including First Aid, CPR, AED, lift training, confined space and excavation training, hazardous material management and emergency action plan development.

“We consider the week a success. Anytime we can gather our industry partners to better safety education in construction is a win,” shared Tony Roussey, COO and former Safety Director.