Similar to those of our brothers in the construction industry, waste management activities rarely find themselves extolled as models of safety or environmental excellence. If that seems like a harsh indictment, allow me to remove some of the sting by pointing out that, safety-wise, we rank in the lowest one-third of all occupations, and our environmental record, though demonstrably better than it used to be, falls short of what most of us would like to have chiseled on our professional headstones.
In our companion publication, Grading & Excavation Contractor, we’ve been watching an interesting phenomenon taking place—a fiscal sword wielded by the people with the projects—that is having an amazingly positive impact on both safety and environmental compliance that we in the waste industry would do well to emulate. First, let me show some examples and then let’s look at how they may be applied to our activities.
The Thundering Hoofbeats of the Dreaded EMR
EMR—Efficiency Modification Rating—is the system developed by the insurance industry to measure one activity’s safety performance relative to all others with the same SIC. While the methodology involved is a little more complex, what it comes down to is this: If your EMR is 1.0, your safety performance is dead-nuts average for your SIC group. An EMR greater than 1.0 means your performance is worse than average, lower than 1.0, your safety performance is better than average.
Several years ago, large companies including General Motors and Ford recognized that no matter what the circumstances, accidents occurring during construction on any of their sites inevitably led to litigation in which they had the deepest pockets around. Realizing that OSHA’s punitive approach was not having the positive effects they hoped for, these pioneers decided to take matters into their own hands by making safety part of the bidding process. Quite typically this was accomplished by refusing to allow contractors with worse (greater) than a 1.0 EMR to bid on projects or to use subcontractors who didn’t meet the same standard. So dramatic have been the results of this practice that it has been adopted by an increasing number of project owners—public as well as private—around the country.
Are contractors getting the message? You bet, as half of them wake up to the realization that they are not eligible to bid on a growing number of the most lucrative projects around…and that the safety bar will be even higher in the future as contractors recognize the importance of safety to their competitive viability. Thus, whether as a matter of enlightenment or terror, the road to safety in the construction field is showing real progress.
Could this approach be of value to you in your selection of bidders? Not only might this help in fiscal matters, but public safety as well…the bottommost line of public sector involvement in waste management.