Cajun Industries LLC
Construction
Baton Rouge, LA
1,842 employees | 3 sites | 49 EHS professionals
At construction company Cajun Industries, every employee must embrace the value that “all accidents are preventable and injury is not an acceptable by-product of our work,” explains Colton Possoit, professional development specialist at Cajun. “As managers, we recognize that profits are enhanced by our Zero Accident Goal.” That number “zero” is significant for Cajun Industries, as the company has maintained a zero-fatality rate since its founding in 1973, 50 years ago. The company is also pursuing a goal of Cajun's goal is zero OSHA recordable injuries and zero motor vehicle accidents.
Cajun Industries devotes a lot of time, effort and attention to safety and health training, which includes an accredited training facility and a corporate training department. The company provides nationally recognized training in areas such as rigging, signaling, carpentry, heavy equipment, cranes and welding. “Our training efforts are ongoing, with weekly Hazard Awareness Trainings (HATbox) and regular periodic reviews of training records,” Possoit says. “We also use Credential Verification Services to track and verify employee training. At Cajun, we believe in a family-oriented safety culture and take pride in our dedication to providing comprehensive safety and health training for all employees, new and experienced.”
One of the hallmarks of an America’s Safest Companies winner is they go above and beyond what a typical company would do. As Possoit explains, in the years 2020-21, there were numerous recalls of fall protection equipment. At that time, Cajun’s management team undertook an extensive survey to learn and understand what brands of all fall protection were being utilized by Cajun and job sites across the Gulf South. That led to an evaluation of three U.S.-based fall protection equipment manufacturers with no safety recalls, with the goal of only using the best and safest fall protection gear.
Achieving that goal, Possoit points out, meant collecting and destroying $260,000 worth of fall protection equipment that hadn’t been produced by one of the three preferred manufacturing brands.
The company also has a very structured mentor program. “All Cajun employees are assigned a Cajun mentor during their first 90 days of employment,” he explains. The mentor stays in close proximity to the mentee and communicates Cajun-specific information such as policies, standard operating procedures and best practices. “At the end of the 90 days the employee’s supervisor makes the determination on whether or not the newly hired individual needs to be mentored any longer.”
Also, employees with less than one year of working in industrial construction are paired with a mentor for one year. “The experienced Cajun employee serves as an additional set of eyes to assist that employee with industrial construction hazards.”