Miller Pipeline, based in Indianapolis, Indiana, understands the importance of safety and goes to great lengths to develop, implement and monitor safety programs for its 1,500 employees. The company provides a comprehensive range of pipeline contracting and rehabilitation services for natural gas, liquids, water and wastewater pipelines.

Miller Pipeline Corporate Safety Director Kevin Beswick says “Safety is important to Miller Pipeline because it makes good business sense. Our employees make our company what it is and we want to take care of them.”

In addition to occupational safety and health compliance, Miller Pipeline has modelled its safety programs by taking into account where injuries are really happening and true loss prevention.

“I think a lot of companies don’t put enough focus on loss prevention – they go with the minimum,” says Mr Beswick. “If you really want an effective program you need to take into account how and why injuries occur.”

To create the company’s horizontal directional drilling (HDD) safety program, Mr Beswick and a team of management members from Miller Pipeline attended a safety training course at Vermeer Corporation in Pella, Iowa. The training course provided the Miller Pipeline team with detailed information on proper HDD operation and safety procedures. Mr Beswick used this information to help develop the company’s HDD safety program.

Miller Pipeline emphasises that it didn’t just create a safety policy manual and distribute it to employees. The company has placed employee safety at the top of its list of core values, and as such, Mr Beswick created a comprehensive safety program that includes employee training, job site monitoring and procedure review.

Every year, Miller Pipeline hosts a two-day training program for all of its HDD employees. The company dedicates half a day to safety training. The program covers everything from where to park equipment when first turning up on the job, to how to load the rig when done.

Employee training doesn’t stop there

In addition to its annual training program, Miller Pipeline holds quarterly superintendent meetings across the US. Once every quarter, each of the company’s superintendents gather their employees together for a two-hour safety meeting. Mr Beswick provides information packets to each superintendent and they use these materials to conduct their meetings.

On top of the quarterly meetings, Mr Beswick publishes a monthly newsletter, which includes information on injuries that have occurred and lessons learned. The newsletter also provides an opportunity for employees to submit questions regarding safety issues and policies. Mr Beswick then includes these questions and responses in future newsletters. The foremen use the newsletter content to reinforce job site safety in monthly meetings with their crews. These 15-minute meetings provide a forum to discuss the reported injuries and how these types of injuries can be prevented.

The final step in the safety program is daily planning huddles at each job site. Every morning the crew foreman takes five minutes to walk the site and identify potential safety hazards specific to that day. This information is shared with the crew before any work begins.

Keys to safety success

Mr Beswick says that Miller Pipeline’s program boils down to five key components:

• 1. Establish safety policies – a clear and comprehensive policy that encompasses everything and every aspect of business needs to be developed. These policies need to be geared toward occupational safety and health compliance and loss prevention.
• 2. Train employees – employees need to understand safety policies and what’s expected of them, and that requires regular and frequent training.
• 3. Monitor and inspect – establish a mechanism to ensure employees are following the company’s safety policies. This requires frequent inspections of crews working on job sites, and taking time to talk to employees to ensure that safety policies are being enforced at the job site.
• 4. Amend unsafe behaviours – the most effective safety policies have some teeth to them. First correct the situation, and then determine what corrective actions may need to be implemented.
• 5. Recognise safe behaviours – take the time to recognise employees who are doing a good job of following the safety policies. This positive reinforcement will set an example for other employees and help implement company policy.