What does virtual reality, toothpicks, safety drawings, chocolate-covered pretzels and hardhats all have in common?
The 2019 Walbridge – DFM Solutions – Devon Industrial Group Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work Day, of course.
More than 50 children participated in the annual event, learning about construction safety, technology, scheduling, budgeting and having a blast while doing it.
Children learned what their parents do all day while having an open forum to ask questions of their parents, other employees and both John Rakolta III and Mike Haller.
From “Do you guys have coffee breaks?” to “How does a project get built” and everywhere in-between, the students took away a lot!
Send us photos for Mother’s and Father’s Day!
Both Mother’s and Father’s Day are just around the corner – show your love and share with us your photo to be featured in the May edition of the WE Newsletter.
An employee tweaks their back on the job! There first response may be ‘It’s not that bad, I will see how it feels later.’
It goes unreported!
The same worker goes home after their day at work and takes it easy. Assuming, of course, a little bit of rest is all they need. Maybe they put some heat on it, or ice thinking that by tomorrow they will be just fine.
Fast forward to the following morning and the same worker is struggling to get out of bed because, during the night, their injured back tightened up and they call into work and then decide to report the injury.
No problem, right?
Wrong!
Prompt incident reporting is critical for several reasons.
First, it is especially important to get medical attention to an injured employee as quickly as possible to get a proper diagnosis and begin treatment immediately.
This also allows for the investigation into the cause of the injury to begin prior to anything in the area being disturbed.
As we all know, construction by its very nature is ever-evolving and is in a constant state of flux. When we do have an incident, we want to learn from it and develop corrective actions that will prevent it from happening again.
This becomes increasingly more difficult as more time passes post incident.
In addition, by reporting the incident promptly there is less questioning into the validity of the claim of injury.
In the example above, how is the employer supposed to know if the injury was actually sustained the injury at work or at home after their shift?
Quick reporting eliminates the questioning of the incident and makes for easier communication between the injured employee and the employer about the incident. Prompt incident reporting is critical to maintaining and improving our safety culture on all of our projects.
– Two Mikes and a Mark is a series of articles related to safety from Assistant Vice President of Corporate Health, Safety, & Environmental Mark LaClair, Corporate Health, Safety, & Environmental Director Mike Palazzola and Corporate Health, Safety, & Environmental Manager Mike Dawson.
An Earth Day Extravaganza
Walbridge’s Boydton, Virgina team spent Earth Day out on the streets and making a difference in their community.
After a conversation was sparked by Collette – a local quilt shop owner, project team and partners jumped at the chance to clean up a local highway.
Starting in the morning, the team held a Stretch and Flex, then got out on the roads – wearing safety gear and with a Mecklenberg County Sheriff’s Department escort, two teams safely picked up trash and bagged it along the roadways.
Kinematic Wolves Finish Season At States
Their FIRST Robotics season may be over, but the Detroit Cristo Rey High School Kinematic Wolves are already prepping for next season.
While not qualifying for the World competition, the Wolves showcased their robot at the largest celebration of STEM for students – the 2019 FIRST Championship in Detroit. Bringing together tens of thousands of students from around the world – along with the educators, industry professionals, sponsors, and colleges/ universities who support them – for a celebration of STEM inspiration and space exploration, the event was a great opportunity for the team to see how teams around the globe were combining technology, robotics, coding and business development.
Michigan, widely regarded as a leader of FIRST Robotics, has more than 500 teams and the dedicated support of leaders in the STEM field including DTE, Consumers Energy, GM, Ford, FCA and more. This year Walbridge, DFM and DIG proudly joined the pack, providing both mentors and financial assistance.
Our commitment to Detroit Cristo Rey and FIRST robotics continues to grow and we are looking forward to next year.
2019 Take Our Daughters and Sons To Work Day
Send us photos for Mother’s and Father’s Day!