PROVIDENCE – Gilbane Building Co. has been honored with a national Safety that Soars award, from Industrial Safety & Hygiene News, for its innovative use of safety programs including DBO2’s pocket PC-based SafetyNet.
The safety analysis and inspection software is designed to help firms in the construction, mining, energy and other industries to improve quality and productivity while preventing worker injury.
Anthony O’Dea, Gilbane’s corporate safety director, said the company made extensive use of SafetyNet in its Heritage Village at Elton Corner project. The elderly housing development in Freehold, N.J., features 150 condominiums in two three-story buildings.
The project was fast-tracked on a 16-month schedule; the work force included about 100 subcontractors, many of whose workers spoke English as a second language.
By using the program, “Gilbane was able to identify and communicate safety hazards to the project superintendent and foremen before they became accidents,” the company said. More than 20,000 observations were collected in nearly 120 SafetyNet inspections over the course of the project, and the data were used in weekly meetings to identify and correct problems. In all, more than 725 potential problems were found and corrected, helping the project to achieve 450 days and 124,000 hours with no recordable injuries.
The software is now being used companywide, O’Dea said. Gilbane Inc. – a family owned construction and real estate fir, based in Providence that is the parent of Gilbane Building Co. and Gilbane Development Co. – is ranked as the second largest private company in Rhode Island in the Providence Business News 2007 Top Private Companies list, with annual revenue of $3.27 billion. (READ MORE)
“SafetyNet helps us predict where accidents are most likely to occur so we can address these hazards well before they become accidents,” O’Dea said. “The program also focuses our safety efforts on those areas that represent the greatest risk. Moreover, it creates a dialogue between our safety managers, project superintendents and subcontractors on how we can all work together to create a safer work environment for everyone on the job.”
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Gilbane Inc., a family owned construction and real estate firm based in Providence, is the parent of Gilbane Building Co. and Gilbane Development Co. For additional information, visit www.gilbaneco.com.
DBO2 of Redwood City, Calif., was founded in 2001 to develop software for measuring human error and its consequences in the work place. Its SafetyNet, QualityNet and ProductivityNet services are in daily use at more than 7,000 worksites. To learn more, visit www.dbo2.com.
