We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.

So said the Greek philosopher Aristotle, and when it comes to making safety a habit, PLW Waterworks LLC has demonstrated that action in expert fashion. The General Contractor, currently working on the Program Management Office under the HAS’s IAH Terminal Redevelopment Program, better known as ITRP, recently passed an important milestone in the construction of the PMO Building.

Hugh Brightwell, Sr. Construction Manager/Alternative Delivery for PLW Waterworks, said that, as of March 12, 2018, the Construction Team had recorded zero incidents and zero recordables in the first 90 days of construction on the PMO project. “We have expended 10,700 labor-hours,” Hugh said.

So how did you do it?

“We made it a point to promote safety early in the project,” Hugh said. “We’ve been very busy with a lot of people and we also recognize that we have a lot of small business partners. It has been really important to drive the safety plan home to everyone, working closely with ITRP Safety.”

Promotion of that safety plan ran the gamut of safety-oriented actions and activities: daily walk-throughs, Monday morning safety meetings, weekly executive safety audits, a safety deficiency log, pre-construction meetings for activities and for new subcontractors coming onsite, a site orientation video (in English and Spanish), attendance in the HAS HACEC OSHA training and much more.

“Additionally,” Hugh said, “Justin Teague, the Corporate Safety Manager, is onsite at least once a month – actually, much more often than that.” Hugh said that the fast-tracked project is on track and moving forward, and they will be moving to more inside work - “interiors” - in the May-June time frame. “That includes overhead work – working at heights - and we’ll have to remain very proactive and very diligent in our safety efforts.”

Khalid Radwan, the ITRP PMO Project Manager, emphasized the entire team’s leadership and commitment to safety from Day One, and long before. Safety has been a core tenet in ITRP since the early industry days and onboarding workshops. “Safety is the number one priority for all staff,” Khalid said. It’s incumbent upon leadership to exhibit the same safety standards onsite for their peers as well. Management leads by example – and it flows to subcontractors, foremen, and staff.” In addition, Khalid and the project team attended the HAS HACEC OSHA training with the PLW team at the commencement of construction works, setting the standard and emphasizing the value of safety led construction.

During the past three months, the excellent safety habits they have formed have served them well in avoiding a couple of near-misses, including nontraditional construction risks such as a coral snake.

Hugh gave kudos to the entire team, which also consisted of these subcontractors within those first 90 days: Preston Banks LLC; J. Simmons Group, Inc.; W. A. Robbins Construction, Inc.; Gonzales Commercial Electric, Inc.; JM Reed Plumbing; and Jarrar & Company, Inc.

Steve Runge, Deputy Emergency Management Coordinator, said, “We enhanced the safety requirements into the Work Area Notification (WAN) and converted it to an entirely electronic process. We also developed a two- hour safety and security module to accompany the mandatory OSHA 10/30 requirements for ITRP.”

Steve Andersen, ITRP Executive Program Manager, was of course extremely pleased with the achievement. “This is a great achievement and sets a standard of excellence to continue to deliver against,” Steve said.