Ron Giza, an equipment operator at Small Mountain Quarry, said there is a simple reason why he and his co-workers are excited about a new approach to safety at the quarry. 

"We all want to go home safe," Giza said. 

Giza, who has worked eight years at the quarry, is one of 16 employees who will lead a safety steering committee that will determine the new practices of safety at Small Mountain Quarry.  The steering committee members have a combined experience of more than 125 years.

"If someone gets hurt, it costs everyone money," Giza said.  "This new process starts with the employees.  We will have management involved, but it starts with the employees."

General Manager Patrick Bartorillo said Slusser Brothers, a subsidiary of PennsySupply that owns Small Mountain Quarry, is committed to developing a world-class safety process that relies on employees to identify safety needs and recommend solutions on how to fix them.

In the past, Bartorillo said, safety was an issue for management that directed employees on practices to stay safe.  Under the new approach, it will be the employees who tackle safety issues and direct management on the tools and training needed to be successful.

"It is bottom-up, rather than top-down," Bartorillo said.

Giza said the steering committee this fall met with representatives of Milliken & Company, a South Carolina-based manufacturing company that created a revolutionary approach to safety over the course of two decades.  Giza said the Milliken employees showed quarry employees how to create the process to a new safety approach, but it is solely the responsibility of Slusser employees to determine what the safety needs are at Small Mountain Quarry and how the company will meet the goals.

At the first meetings, the steering committee identified a list of safety needs - some very minor, some complex.  From there, the steering committee established goals for the new safety process.  The only requirements were that the goals be realistic, attainable and measurable.

The steering committee will now meet regularly to move the process forward, creating subcommittees for employees to tackle the issues identified by the steering committee.  The group also adopted a name for the steering committee, "Safety Employee Action Team."  SEAT members will be identified on the job with a red hard hat or a patch, encouraging employees to approach them with safety issues.

Wayne Punch of Milliken said it is important that employees know there are team

members who are able to hear their safety concerns and address them.  Sometimes, he noted, employees could be reluctant to raise issues with managers, so giving workers the freedom to approach colleagues with safety concerns encourages communication.

Punch said team members will establish milestones in creating the safety process. 

He said the mission of the Safety Employee Action Team is to work toward safety that is the envy of industry standards by promoting safety for everyone in the company, from the workers in the quarry to the staff in the administrative office.  He said the goal of the safety process is 100 percent employee participation, with workers participating in at least one of the Safety Employee Action Team's sub-committees that will be established.

Punch said there are two keys to the program's success:  the employees have to "own it" and the management has to support them.

"It's a safety foundation that changes a way a company does business," Punch said. 

"It indicates to the employee that the company cares about them."

Darren Rech, Safety Director for Pennsy Supply, said the company is committed to establishing a new corporate approach to making its sites as safe as possible.  Rech said the company is willing to invest in the safety needs of employees.  Studies have shown that investment pays off by avoiding costly injuries and down time and by improving employee morale and creativity.

"This process gives our employees the tools and the understanding to be safe," Rech said.

Bartorillo said Small Mountain Quarry already has a good safety record.  He noted that the quarry consistently performs better than the industry standards in safety. 

The new approach to safety, which puts employees in charge of the process, will improve that record.

"Being better than the industry average...we just aren't satisfied with that.  Our employees deserve a world-class safety process," Bartorillo said.