Implementing strategic practices and processes to increase efficiency is common practice in the architect, engineer and contractor industry, but what sets a general contractor and its trade partners apart is how that production mindset truly manifests across the organization and into its projects, specifically around safety.

By adopting a production mindset that prioritizes work done safely, we can identify, plan, rectify and fix potential harmful issues well before teams are affected by them. But, to get there, it takes the effort and commitment of every individual who sets foot on the job to make it happen.

Consider the following benefits of how this type of strategic mindset not only acknowledges and builds upon productivity and time savings, but also allows teams to meet their goal of zero incidents.

• Full Visibility—By practicing openness and transparency, teams create trust. It improves morale and lowers job-related stress. When the goal is safety, teams are open to share feedback with each other, giving each team member a sense of responsibility.

• Real-Time Insights and Updates—Safety alerts via a shared software platform or notification system allows teams to gather information in real time. This eliminates wait time on reports, instantly increases response times, and can help teams prepare for what may come.

• Minimize Disruption—Creating a project specific safety master plan that includes fall protection and the control of hazardous energy eliminates time wasted due to service interruptions, damage to materials, service equipment, tools, and injuries on job sites. Teams can prevent down-time and increase speed of care if incidents occur. With the right planning, unsafe conditions can be anticipated and recognized, therefore, mitigated.

• Maximize Efficiency—All work involves proper planning. Teams need to think of worst-case and unlikely scenarios and work from there to ensure they have done everything possible to prevent injury. With this type of vigilance and commitment to safety, speed of completion and quality of work increases.

Clients may have many goals and needs in mind, from budget and schedule to the quality of the work. But a focused production mindset does not have to simply stop with these goals. The elements of this frame of mind translate to every level of an organization.

This post was written by Mark Thompson, Leader of Evergreen Innovation Group (EIG), a commercial electrical contractor and strategic partner of DPR.