(l-r) Steven Biasi, acting area director, OSHA Bridgeport Office; Mike Kolakowski, president, KBE; and Kenneth Tucker, director, Connecticut OHSA / photo by Meghan Murphy, KBE Building Corporation
Farmington, CT – A sterling safety reputation has earned KBE Building Corporation two new Safety Training Partnerships with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) Hartford Area Office and federal OSHA. These represent the fourth and fifth partnerships that OSHA has recognized KBE with since the first partnership in 2014.
KBE’s two newest partnerships are underway on the city of Waterbury’s new Public Works Facility and the expansion of the Seabury Active Life Community for seniors in Bloomfield.
Previous partnerships were recently completed at three KBE project sites: the 211,000sf Next Generation Connecticut Residence Hall for the University of Connecticut in Storrs, the new 183,000sf Litchfield County Judicial District Courthouse in Torrington, and the 372,000sf Jewish Senior Services senior living campus in Bridgeport.
Through SPP, KBE Building Corporation, and OSHA combine forces to set a standard that will inspire construction companies around the country to voluntarily take steps to improve their own safety practices, instead of waiting for the government to get involved when a situation becomes too dangerous.
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“Partnerships like the one with KBE Building Corporation provides a very effective, top-down emphasis to ensure a safer and healthier workplace for construction workers,” said Steven Biasi, OSHA’s Acting Area Director in the Bridgeport Office. “The partnership at the Waterbury Department of Public Works maintenance facility project in Waterbury, CT is a great opportunity for knowledge and skills to be passed down to smaller employers so their workers are better protected, not only for this project, but for years to come.” “Creating these working relationships to prevent serious workplace construction hazards through our partnership allows us to collaborate in making Connecticut a safer place to work.”
“Outreach activities and cooperative programs within OSHA continue to play a vital role in the agencies mission of improving safety and health in the workplace,” said Dale Varney, Area Director of the Hartford Area Office, OSHA. “Partnerships like the ones established with KBE allow OSHA to leverage resources in an effort to reach employers whom we might not normally be able to reach. It is OSHA’s hope that these partnerships showcase the positive impact a quality safety and health management system can have for both employers and employees and ultimately help to motivate other employers to improve their programs.
All five partnerships are part of OSHA’s nationwide Strategic Partnership Program (SPP), which develops contractor/government partnerships that will encourage involvement of the general and sub- contractors in the improvement of safety and health performance.
“As we embark on our fifth Safety Training Partnership with OSHA, it’s fair to say that these programs have helped systematically improve the safety practices of our many subcontractors on our jobsites, and hopefully on other sites as they continue to work in the construction industry,” says KBE CEO and principal owner, Mike Kolakowski.
For the Waterbury Public Works project and the Seabury senior living project, KBE and OSHA have set a goal of achieving a Total Case Incident Rate (TCIR) and Days Away, Restricted, and Transferred (DART) rate to a level of 20% below the current national average.
To achieve these goals, the Partnership between KBE, Federal OSHA and Connecticut OSHA has been established to formalize a cooperative effort between these entities. The Partnerships encourage companies to voluntarily improve their safety and health performance , provide methods to assist them in their efforts and recognize companies with exemplary safety and health programs.
As part of the Partnership process, KBE’s onsite Safety Manager works with trade contractors to develop pre-task plans and to help them recognize and eliminate any safety issues. KBE’s Safety Department, Federal OSHA, Conn-OSHA, or an outside vendor provides safety awareness training on various topics each month for all trade contractors. Conn-OSHA is a huge resource in these partnerships as well performing all types of consultation services for subcontractors. The focus is not only creating a very safe jobsite, but to create a more knowledgeable construction workforce that is well-educated in safety protocols.
