Nick Femal – J.H. Findorff & Son

Listen to this article

Nick Femal’s title at J.H. Findorff & Son may be safety director but he’s far from the only person at the general contractor whose primary concern is shielding his fellow employees from harm.

One of the primary ways Femal helps to prevent accidents and mishaps on jobsites is to make sure superintendents, foremen and project managers are making safety a priority. This he accomplishes in part with a Safety Rotation Program lasting anywhere from two to six weeks. This gives workers who are often under pressure to hit deadlines and hold down costs some time away from their busy schedules to take part in safety audits, toolbox talks on safety and incident investigations.

“It’s all about just having them take ownership of it, demand safety from their crews and preplan safety in all their activities,” Femal said.

Femal has also helped Findorff adopt a safety program known as 5S — sort, straighten, shine, standardize and sustain. On a recent project, this had employees taking time to make sure the workspace was always properly broom-swept and left uncluttered and that all tools were properly cleaned and stored at the end of the day.

Femal has found that it’s hard to say whether it’s industry newcomers or veterans who need the most help with safety. The longer people have been in construction, the more they tend to take things for granted and perhaps neglect necessary precautions. But the industry’s rush to recruit amidst a persistent labor shortage also means that many people on jobsites can be naïve about the dangers of construction.

“Just making sure you have a highly skilled and highly trained workforce is always necessary,” Femal said. “We are getting better at training, and setting aside more time to do safety training.”