Safety Newsletter

Champion Safety Newsletter – June 2023

June 8, 2023
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Investigating Accidents/Incidents

Why Facts Matter

Accidents and incidents occur each day on construction sites. The same type of accidents and incidents will continually reoccur in a rinse-and-repeat cycle unless we investigate how they occurred and make appropriate changes to our Safety Management Systems or behaviors to prevent them in the future.

By utilizing information from the facts gained by investigating each accident/incident, we can analyze the cause and effect and develop permanent solutions to prevent recurrences.

Accident/incident investigations can be challenging. Determining what the facts are versus what are suppositions, guesses, or opinions can be difficult. One helpful way is to arrange the facts on a timeline of events leading up to the accident/incident. This will allow you to examine the incident in a step-by-step manner and analyze the decisions and behaviors that directly preceded and impacted the incident.

In this manner, we can determine the direct and indirect causes, recommend and institute permanent changes to our Safety Management Systems, and identify needed behaviors that have long-lasting preventative effects.

Remember, to develop permanent and lasting changes that eliminate hazards, prevent recurrences, and improve your work surroundings and your coworkers’ safety, the root cause(s) must be identified.

Your efforts create the Champion community that you want to work in and you MAKE IT HAPPEN. 

For specific reporting guidelines, refer to our Incident Management Playbook available at: Champion Specialty Services – 03_Incident Management – All Documents (sharepoint.com)

Oyster Creek facility

Champion Crew of the Month

Often, the decommissioning and demolition process begins with the abatement of hazardous materials. Our crew at the HDI Oyster Creek site began the removal and disposal of asbestos in January 2021. During the ensuing 2+ years, a small but dedicated team has abated approximately 11,000 cubic feet of asbestos-containing materials. They have done so safely, compliantly, and efficiently. Possibly even more impressive, most of these materials were in radiological-affected areas.

We entered our relationship with HDI with a plan of creating a “fleet” concept. We’re seeing this idea blossom in 2023. The team’s collaboration with the client at Oyster Creek has become the basis for our abatement work in other locations. Individuals who have embedded these processes at Oyster Creek have moved to Indian Point to start up and replicate the same behaviors.

The proof of this team’s efforts was on full display on April 5 when the State of New Jersey Department of Labor arrived, unannounced, to audit our abatement processes. Champion and HDI were able to easily retrieve all necessary records. The inspectors were pleased with our collective performance and left satisfied.

Champion recognizes and congratulates the OC Abatement Team for their safe performance, compliant records, a thrilled client, and for setting an example that will be followed at other HDI sites.

Crew of the Month - Asbestos Crew

Front row (l to r): Sandra Moreno, Ximena Cevallos.
Back row (l to r): Darrick Eli, Raphael Berroteran and Gabriel Johnston

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