Every June, the AEC industry recognizes National Safety Month: an initiative introduced in 2014 by leading construction companies worldwide and sponsored annually by the National Safety Council. While safety is always the top priority at Catamount, National Safety Month is the perfect time to reflect on the past year, reiterate standards, and inspire our employee-owners to become safety leaders.

We’re proud to announce Catamount had zero recorded OSHA citations in 2023 and was well below the industry average in both TRIR (total recordable incident rate) and DART (days away / restricted / transferred).

We believe that safety is everyone’s responsibility – from the job site to the office and everywhere in between. This belief drives our safety team to be committed to providing consistent support and accessible, easy-to-understand training across the company.

“Safety is a learned behavior,” Dan Medaglia, Catamount’s Corporate Safety Director, commented. “Every time we lead a training session, we provide a comfortable environment where folks are encouraged to ask questions and keep an open mind. I didn’t know all the regulations and potential hazards when I first started – someone had to show me, to teach me. That’s what we’re here for. If one person learns something new in training, then I know it’s been a success.”

This educational environment, in addition to intentional companywide safety programs and initiatives, drives our robust safety culture. A few examples include:

• Every meeting begins with a Safety Moment to ensure best practices are always top-of-mind.
• The safety team hosts a biweekly Safety Blitz meeting that reviews important and relevant safety topics.
• A companywide publication, The bimonthly Safety Newsletter, is designed to review specific job site hazards, celebrate safety leaders, and encourage employee-owners to remain vigilant.
• Catamount utilizes an online training program that gives users access to hundreds of easy-to-navigate safety courses.
• In 2023, Catamount purchased women-fitted safety vests to provide a safer and more comfortable experience for our female employee-owners.
• In line with OSHA’s 2023 Safety Helmet recommendation, all employee-owners who work in the field will soon receive new, technologically advanced safety helmets to replace the traditional hard hats.

“Progress is a key element when it comes to safety,” Medaglia said. “We must be willing to make improvements every day, week, month, and year. If you commit to taking small steps over and over again, eventually, you will look back and see the impact those movements have made. I’ve been honored to see the growth of the safety mindset here at Catamount, and I know we’re only to keep moving forward.”