Swift & Staley Inc.
Paducah, KY
Facility support services
175 employees | 1 site | 5 EHS professionals
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At Swift & Staley Inc (SSI), a provider of facility support services and a prime contractor to the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), safe work practices is one of the company’s core values. As Tammy Courtney, project manager, explains, “SSI’s safety and health program is founded on the philosophy that all accidents are preventable, and that safety is the first priority for all work.”
Senior leadership actively supports the SSI safety and health program through such practices as management by walking around, as well as regular meetings with front-line supervisors. The company is not shy about financially supporting safety- and health-related needs. For instance, SSI provides new ergonomic sit-to-stand workstations for any employee requesting them.
As a DOE contractor, SSI is committed to the agency’s Integrated Safety Management System (ISMS) concept and elements, which are founded on five core functions:
● Define the scope of work.
● Analyze the hazards.
● Identify and implement hazard controls.
● Perform work within those controls.
● Feedback and continuous improvement.
The company operates under a “zero accident” work culture and philosophy. To reach that goal, SSI grants every employee, subcontractor, visitor, consultant, or anybody else working for them Stop-Work authority. That means that in any situation where there is a real or potential safety, quality or security hazard, any employee has the power to stop work until the situation has been properly addressed and rectified.
According to Courtney, SSI has developed and maintains an internal hazard tracking system that allows employees to submit hazards or safety suggestions (anonymously if desired) to an employee-led safety team. This team, she notes, has an annual budget and its primary mission is to improve the safety culture. In fact, another employee-led environmental team recently joined the safety team in an effort to integrate safety and environmental work.
“Safety is not a program layered on top of the ‘real work,’ but is an integral part of doing any work,” Courtney emphasizes. “SSI is not a ‘safety right now’ company but a ‘safety always’ company.”