Safety

Tompkins recognizes the vital importance of site safety for our clients, our workers, and those who live and work in the vicinity of our projects. Safety is proactive, not reactive. It is with this mindset that we approach every project. To be proactive in safety, health, and environmental concerns, the full scope of a project must be understood– past, present, and future. It has always been Tompkins’ policy to spend the necessary upfront time on every project through research, analysis, and planning to author and implement a Project Specific Safety Plan.

The Project Safety Manager, with the assistance of the entire Project Team and our Safety Department, will develop and customize the Project Specific Safety Program for each project to incorporate the requirements of the contract, including specific conditions from the other construction documents/drawings, any Owner requirements such as dust control, noise control, the project’s insurance programs, and any applicable local laws or ordinances. Tompkins’ Project Specific Safety Plan will be supplemented with the requirement for every Subcontractor to submit their written Project Specific Safety Plan. All Subcontractor Safety Plans must comply with Tompkins’s Plan and specifically include their studied Site Hazard and Job Safety Analysis (JSA) for all major activities.

Safety Training Requirements
At Tompkins, safety training is mandatory. We are dedicated to providing our employees and our Subcontractors with the best and current information to do their jobs effectively. Training is done in many formats: full-day seminars, weekly meetings, safety orientation seminars, toolbox meetings, one-on-one instruction sessions, written manuals, demonstrative videos, on-the-job educational inspection reviews, and Turner Knowledge Network (TKN) - our parent company's online university.

Safety Training for Tompkins Employees: The goals of our employee training include education in rules and regulations, raising an employee’s awareness, modifying behavior, safety management skills, and creating a proactive positive safety attitude. This is applicable to both field and office personnel. Tompkins requires all of its field personnel to complete 30-hour OSHA safety training, 1st Aid/ CPR training, and selected safety topics that are project and site specific.

Safety Training for Subcontractors: Training for subcontractors commences with pre-job orientation with Tompkins’ Safety Program. In addition, our subcontractors must submit a list of all competent person(s) overseeing those tasks in which OSHA or Tompkins requires such person(s). Also, they must list the individuals who have the OSHA 30-hour training and submit documentation. Tompkins offers subcontractors the opportunity to complete the OSHA 30-hour class on our Tompkins Knowledge Network (TKN) online, and we promote and enforce all alcohol-free and drug-free workplace requirements. As the standard on the project, we provide timely safety orientation and enforce a Zero Tolerance Policy, 100% Eye Protection, Six-Foot Fall Protection Policy, as well as (and as previously mentioned) require our subcontractors to create Job Safety Analyses (JSA) for all trade specific key aspects of their work.

Safety Documentation and Reporting
Tompkins’ worksite inspection program includes daily walk-throughs, weekly inspections, and weekly and monthly reports by our designated safety staff and subcontractor safety coordinators, as well as quarterly inspections by Liberty Mutual (Tompkins’ insurance carrier), and regular unannounced inspections by our Safety Manager, Joe Thomas. Our Safety Manager, Construction Executive, and General Superintendent are all trained to utilize Trend Tracker, a wireless electronic device similar to a palm pilot that can be taken into the field, to ensure that each phase of the project specific hazards are given careful consideration. This system also allows Tompkins to track subcontractor safety performance over time, as well as identify Tompkins employees who run the safest projects and learn from these individuals. These reports will then be formatted as needed for distribution to the client/owner and the subcontractors to demonstrate the safety performance of the entire team.

Our incident (inspection and accident) investigation and reporting procedures are comprehensive with clear step-by-step instructions and guidelines. They include the following sections: Instructions for Gathering Information, Instructions for Conducting a Comprehensive Investigative Interview, Analyzing Testimony, and Records. Moreover, by contract, our Subcontractor employees must immediately report all incidents to their company’s supervision at the time of occurrence. It is then the subcontractor's supervisor’s responsibility to immediately report all incidents to Tompkins Builders, Inc. A complete Incident Investigation Report Form and OSHA 301 Injury and Illness Incident Report or equivalents (First Report of Injury Form), shall be submitted within 24 hours of the incident occurrence to Tompkins’ Project Safety Manager. Historically, Tompkins’ lost time incident record has been from zero to one, with an EMR of .74.

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