Farmington, CT – KBE Building Corporation has earned its seventh Safety Training Partnership with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) Hartford area office and the Connecticut Department of Labor Division of Occupational Safety and Health (CONN‐OSHA) On‐Site Consultation Program.
This newest partnership is underway on the Orange Senior Living project in Orange, a project KBE is building for owner Columbia Pacific Advisors. Another partnership project is underway at the new Consolidated Care Rental Facility at Bradley International Airport in Windsor Locks, where KBE is working with construction manager Austin Commercial.
Previous partnerships were completed at the City of Waterbury’s new public works facility; Seabury Active Life Community in Bloomfield; the Peter J. Werth STEM Residence Hall at UCONN in Storrs; the Litchfield County Judicial District Courthouse in Torrington; and Jewish Senior Services’ senior living campus in Bridgeport.
All seven partnerships are part of OSHA’s nationwide Strategic Partnership Program (SPP), which develops contractor/government partnerships that will encourage involvement of the general and subcontractors in the improvement of safety and health performance.
“As we embark on our seventh Safety Training Partnership with OSHA and CONN-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 Orange Senior Living project, KBE, OSHA, and CONN-OSHA have set a goal of achieving a Total Case Incident Rate (TCIR) and Days Away, Restricted, and Transferred (DART) rate less than 50% the current national average. To achieve these goals, the partnership between KBE, OSHA and CONN-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.
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As part of the partnership process, KBE’s onsite safety manager will work with trade contractors to develop pre-task plans and to help them recognize and eliminate any safety issues. KBE’s Safety Department, 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.
“Partnerships like this and the previous ones with KBE Building Corporation have the common goal of making Connecticut a safer place to work. They provide an effective, top-down emphasis to ensure safer and healthier workplaces for construction workers on these projects,” said Steven Biasi, OSHA’s area director in the Bridgeport Office. “The partnership at the Orange Senior Living facility is a prime opportunity to pass down knowledge and skills to smaller employers so their workers are better protected, not only for these projects, but for subsequent jobs in the years ahead.”
“Outreach activities and cooperative programs within CONN‐OSHA continue to play a vital role in the agency’s mission of improving safety and health in the workplace,” said Kenneth Tucker, CONN‐OSHA director. “Partnerships like the ones established with KBE allow CONN‐OSHA to leverage resources in an effort to reach employers whom we might not normally be able to reach. It is CONN‐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.”
