Description
Safety Director, Harold Murry, is one of the most passionate and driven construction leaders in the construction industry. He is an accident preventer, solution provider, and hard hat loving director that always sets a plan for our superintendents and subcontractors’ safety!
Harold has worked in the construction industry for 37 years. He started at the company 13 years ago as a superintendent and was promoted to Safety Director 8 years ago. Since his promotion, Harold has implemented over 5 safety programs including the following:
1. Live instruction and admittance of OSHA 30 hour certification. Currently 97% of our superintendents have their OSHA 30 hour certification due to Harold’s teachings.
2. Developed Safety training seminar that is now incorporated in our 3 day new superintendent training program that launched in 2021. Harold created material and safety program curriculum and now teaches to all newly onboarded superintendents.
3. Taught and initiated weekly Tool Box Topics which are now facilitated in field by trained superintendents
4. Leads quarterly Scaffolding training on how to properly build scaffold
5. Leads quarterly body harness sizing per superintendent for fall prevention
6. Implemented CPR, AED, and First Aid trainings through American Red Cross, for all employees to complete yearly.
Harold has his OSHA 510, 500 and 30 hour certification. Every day, he travels to audit our sites, making sure hard hats are being worn, body harnesses are actively used, and there are no OSHA violations on site. Harold’s strength as a Safety Director includes his attention to detail on site and when creating reports and solutions to potential problems. His communication via email and cell phone are spectacular. There is never a time where Harold does not answer a phone call or does not respond to an email. Lastly, he meets with every single superintendent and area manager individually to make sure they understand what they need to do to keep our jobsites safe. If he feels they need training, he will schedule a one-on-one training and pour his knowledge into them until they can confidently demonstrate the procedure that was just taught.
Harold Murray instructs company written Safety and Health Program and gives this book to every superintendent, which is updated yearly and on a situational basis. Every new superintendent has a one-on-one meeting with the Safety Director, making sure they understand the policies and procedures for a safe site. One program we recently launched is our 3-day Superintendent Training Program. This program’s curriculum has 1 day dedicated towards Safety, Scaffolding training, Harness training, expectations of the builder, expectations of the company, and expectations of OSHA. The audience of this program are all new hired superintendents, along with current superintendents that we feel need some additional training and reminders. The material is taught by our Director of Safety, Harold Murry, along with the regional area managers for that coast. Dedicating this additional classroom time for safety, allows the superintendent to ask about different risk scenarios and how to react or avoid in a safe manner. This program was launched in 2021 and we are only seeing positive results when it comes to safety on site and safety and growth of the superintendent.
To ensure that all of our superintendents and area managers understand the importance of managing a safe site, our company continues to enforce the completion of the 30-hour OSHA class certification. Our safety program includes helping all of the superintendents and area managers become 30-hour OSHA certified. Our certified team has increased to 97% of the field that now have their OSHA 30 hour. The other 3% are actively completing the program online. Not only do our established safety protocols and programs prove our success rates with low accidents, our most recent OSHA records show these results in action. Below are some results based on the past three years:
1. Zero fatalities on a project within the past three years.
2. Zero “Repeat” or Willful” OSHA citations in the past three years
3. 0-1 OSHA citation in the past three years
4. Company Experience Modification Rate (EMR) is under 1.00
5. Zero days with job transfer or restriction last year
One example of how Harold merges health ad safety responsibilities with the safety department is through partnering with the HR department in developing “The Care Team”. This team provides support towards all individuals in need of health assistance and guidance. For example, we have one superintendent that was recently diagnosed with Lung cancer and the results show 90% of the cancer came from inhaling silica (concrete dust). The safety team enforces the OSHA required masks, but the Care Team also makes sure all health claims are filed for treatment, flexible schedule is authorized for appointments, and overall attention to this matter is given. Different collections are started to help support his bills as well.
Harold has created and found many successes within our current safety processes including the initiation of OSHA tool Box topics and OSHA certification trainings. To ensure that our team members and trade partner employees are safe every day across all jobs, our superintendents all over the state of Florida are required to continue leading weekly OSHA toolbox topic meetings. This is a team effort program. These meetings require the signature of the superintendent instructing, along with each individual subcontractor employee name and company name on site, stating that they read and understand all information shared. This certification form is then submitted to the Safety Director and compliance officer for confirmation of completion and processing for additional records of safety measures. We have continued this program into 2024 due to the high success rate of low accidents on site.
Many of the programs Harold started were a direct result of the impact of COVID-19, inspiring Harold to work more one on one with team members to gain a better understanding from each member, what is truly important to them when it comes to safety. In the past year, health has been a big factor for Harold and the team as we had one superintendent suffer from a heart attack on the job site, and another Area Manager that lost control of his vehicle and survived an extremely traumatic car accident. This is why Harold has implemented the CPR, AED, and First Aid training for all employees.
The company has chosen Harold Murry for this prestigious Safety Award because he delivers daily, the ambition and safety procedures our company needs to ensure our teams lives are not at risk and they can return home to their loving and supporting families. We need more Harold’s in our community and we hope that GCBA recognizes the importance of Harold’s values, teachings, and leadership!
