Published: January 24, 2009 11:37 pm      

A step forward

Safety alliance in state now being improved

FAIRMONT — With the help of a grant, the West Virginia University Safety and Health Extension is working to improve the construction industry by establishing safety alliances in the state.

WVU Extension Service in an outreach service to the state and takes the university to the people, Mark Fullen said. Fullen is director of the WVU Safety and Health Extension, a unit within the WVU Extension’s Center for Community, Economic and Workforce Development.

The Safety and Health Extension was created in 1989 to serve the needs of the industry related to safety and health. This unit provides training, technical assistance, and applied research for the state of West Virginia.

Chandler Swope started Swope Construction Co., a general contractor of commercial buildings, in Bluefield in the spring of 1984. The business, which has approximately 90 employees, builds hospitals, schools and other structures and primarily does work in West Virginia and Virginia.

“Construction is one of the largest and most important industries out there,” Swope, president of the company, said. “It’s a very significant portion of our entire economy.”

The construction industry accounts for bridges, roads, buildings, residential areas and more, he said. These workers deal with heavy materials every day.

“The kind of work we do is just dangerous work,” Swope said. “There are just all kinds of opportunities for injury when you’re in that environment.”

Swope said he’s very proud of the safety program that he built at his company, and he’s changed the outlook of his employees over the years. The Bluefield business has a full-time safety director and “an excellent OSHA inspection record.” Without a safety program, Swope Construction Co. probably wouldn’t still be around today, he said.

Swope has been active in the contractor trade associations in both West Virginia and Virginia for a number of years. Four years ago, he served as president of the Associated General Contractors (AGC) of Virginia.

The Lynchburg, Va., chapter appointed a committee to start a safety alliance, which was “sort of like a big brother mentoring program,” seven or eight years ago, Swope said. He said the concept was for contractors to meet together to talk about their safety programs and share resources. The goal was to improve safety performance and reduce chances of injury.

“(Accidents) could happen to anybody anywhere,” he said. “Relying on luck is just not good business.”

Within one year, the alliance was holding safety trainings and events, and 80 to 100 people were attending the meetings. Swope then made it his mission to start safety alliances in every district in Virginia.

“It just caught on like wildfire, and people’s behaviors actually changed,” he said.

Swope previously tried to find volunteers to start safety alliances in West Virginia, but these efforts were unsuccessful. An alliance formed in Bluefield has only been minimally effective, he said.

Swope said WVU Safety and Health Extension contacted him last summer to see if he would consider giving them a grant to help promote their consulting services. Swope made a contribution of $15,000 last year and $15,000 again this year, and the Safety and Health Extension will in turn work as agents to create the West Virginia Safety Alliance.

The Safety and Health Extension wanted to revitalize an old program that was funded by West Virginia workers compensation and presented that concept to Swope, who had experience with safety alliances, Fullen said. He said Swope really wanted someone who could focus their energy on the West Virginia Safety Alliance concept and organize meetings.

Swope’s $30,000 contribution will allow Safety and Health Extension to run the program, pay for expenses and designate a faculty member to the effort, Fullen said.

By promoting safety alliances, more and more people can wake up and realize that safety is worth it and that a program isn’t necessarily too expensive for their company. Although a business has to face costs in order to start a safety program, the money spent pays for itself in the end, Swope said.

He said a change in bad work habits will increase performance, make the number of injuries go down, and reduce workers compensation costs.

“You get more productivity if people are working in a safe environment,” Swope said.

He said the safety alliance idea is the most effective concept he’s seen in the construction industry in many years.

According to Fullen, 80 percent of contractors have 10 employees or less, and these companies typically don’t have a safety director or a safety program. Safety alliances create a mentorship program where companies with more established safety programs can help the smaller companies.

The Safety and Health Extension program will create regional safety alliances in the state’s biggest growth areas: North Central West Virginia, the Kanawha Valley and the Eastern Panhandle. Including the small safety alliance in the Bluefield area, there will be four alliances in West Virginia, Fullen said.

Last week, meetings were held in Morgantown and Charleston to begin organizing the safety alliances. The next meeting will take place in the Eastern Panhandle in late February.

Fullen said when workers get injured, it impacts the state’s economy and jobs.

The West Virginia Safety Alliance could potentially “make the job site safer, reduce injuries and reduce workers comp cost,” he said. As a result, these companies will be able to better do business, which will have an overall impact on the state’s business climate.

E-mail Jessica Legge at jlegge@timeswv.com.