Maryland’s new Strategic Partnership for Excellence in Construction Safety (SPECS) program provides both general contractors and subcontractors with an opportunity to gain recognition for their efforts from the Maryland Occupational Safety and Health Administration (MOSH) in the Maryland Department of Labor Licensing and Regulation Division (DLLR). Through SPECS, contractors also can cultivate a more positive and constructive relationship with these state agencies.
SPECS is a partnership agreement between MOSH and all four Maryland chapters of Associated Builders and Contractors. It recognizes contractors that have gone beyond the basic compliance with MOSH standards to provide a safer and healthier jobsite for their employees. Companies that sign a SPECS agreement become SPECS partners and receive special incentives and assistance from MOSH. For example, MOSH agrees to give special considerations to SPECS members if they act promptly to abate any hazards that a MOSH inspector may see on a jobsite.
Beyond Compliance
ABC of Metro Washington approached the Maryland Department of Labor about two years ago with the idea for a partnership program that would go beyond the agency’s Cooperative Compliance Partnership.
“The CCP is centered around jobsites; a general contractor can designate a particular jobsite as a partnership site, but there was no mechanism to recognize subcontractors at all. And even with CCP, there was no mechanism to recognize general contractors as an enterprise,” says Frank Trujillo, vice president of risk management at Miller & Long Co., Inc. Trujillo previously worked in North Carolina, which has an enterprise-based recognition program.
ABC and DLLR representatives signed an agreement to establish SPECS in January 2018. SPECS includes some of the elements of MOSH’s Voluntary Protection Program, a cooperative partnership program open to general industry.
“We have taken a lot of things that are important in VPP—not just compliance, but also employee engagement and training, and feedback on the real nuts and bolts of how safety programs should function to get the results you want,” Trujillo says. “It’s easy for a company to make sure that it’s in compliance and not doing anything illegal. This takes it to that next level, which is talking about how you protect your people.”
“We were anxious to do this,” says Allen Stump, MOSH VPP and SPECS coordinator. “It really fulfills our mission to assure that every man and woman in the state has safe and healthy working conditions. It also gives us a chance to partner not only with the employers, but also with the employees.”
Stump says there are four elements that build comprehensive safety and health programs: leadership commitment, employee engagement from the bottom up as well as the top down, hazard analysis and prevention control, and safety training.
The Application Process
Contractors and subcontractors are eligible for the SPECS program if they are ABC members that are contracted on a Maryland construction project and that meet the requirements for gold, platinum or diamond designation in ABC’s Safety Training Evaluation Process.
To apply for SPECS, contractors must provide:
- a completed SPECS application, which includes OSHA 300 and 300A reports for the past three years and any partial for the current year;
- a copy of their safety and health plan;
- calculations for DART and total recordable cases;
- their OSHA establishment search; and
- a self-audit checklist.
The initial screening of SPECS applications is done through a peer review group at the applicant’s local ABC chapter. Once contractors become SPECS partners, they must provide a representative who will serve as a peer reviewer and help mentor other contractors that want to improve their safety programs.
“As you add people to the process and the pipeline, you are gaining mentorship resources,” Trujillo notes.
A big part of the evaluation is a site visit to ensure that the company is properly implementing its safety program. The reviewers interview supervisors and workers onsite to ensure they are knowledgeable about and follow safety procedures. Once the peer reviewers are satisfied that the company really does have an exceptional safety program, they recommend to the state that the SPECS application be approved.
MOSH then conducts its own review and site inspection. If it agrees with the recommendation, the contractor signs a SPECS agreement with MOSH that lasts for one year. The ABC peer group and the state will review each company’s programs every year, although not to the same extent, to ensure that the SPECS requirements are still being met.
“One of the best things about SPECS is having a peer group that can take some of the pressure off the resources of MOSH and DLLR,” Trujillo says.
Level 1 and Level 2 SPECS designations, available to both general contractors and subcontractors, are enterprise recognitions that apply to a company on any jobsite throughout the state. The primary difference between them is that a Level 2 SPECS partner must have daily pre-task meetings, must have achieved ABC STEP Platinum or Diamond status and must provide all their field supervisors with OSHA 30-hour training. Any general contractor that wants to go for the SPECS Level 3 designation must first have earned recognition at Level 2.
Level 3 is a jobsite designation for general contractors. Those who achieve a Level 3 SPECS rating can avoid MOSH programmed inspections for up to two years; this is an umbrella that covers all of the subcontractors working on their site. Level 3 partners also can receive onsite assistance from MOSH.
New Insights Into Safety
No applicant for SPECS fails its review. If the ABC peer reviewers determine that a company still has some safety practices that need improvement, they suggest ways that the applicant can bring its safety program to the SPECS level. The application is considered in process until it is approved by ABC peer reviewers for presentation to MOSH.
There is no timetable for an applicant to reach SPECS status. Mentorship will continue as long as necessary to ensure that the company’s safety goals are reached and SPECS integrity is maintained.
In June, Coakley & Williams Construction, Inc. became the first contractor in the state to achieve the SPECS designation.
“It was refreshing to have this dialog with the state and to have the interactions between them and our field personnel,” says Mike O’Quinn, senior project manager at Coakley & Williams Construction. “It’s a 100 percent positive relationship, and it fosters a tremendous amount of respect between our organizations. It gives our company an opportunity to showcase our safety culture and the best practices that we utilize.
“Most importantly, it exposes all of our subcontractors and visitors, and the general public, to the safety culture that we employ,” he says. “As we develop our safety culture, we also enhance our subcontractors’ safety culture and foster relationships to build up their safety best practices through working on our project.”
Helping subcontractors improve their safety programs is also important to Forrester Construction, which became a SPECS partner in late June.
“Forrester brings subcontractors onto our jobsites that we can partner with in setting safety goals that we achieve together. Our team is committed to living up to those goals throughout the job so that we are providing a safe workplace,” says John Shumar, construction executive/safety director. “Each project team member is looking out for the others. That’s the core value we’re looking for.”
Scaffold Resource became SPECS’ first subcontractor partner in July. Bill Drexel, the company’s director of safety, was one of the peer reviewers for Coakley & Williams Construction.
“That gave me a window into what was being looked at and how the program was going to work. So when they asked for a subcontractor to volunteer to be the first sub through the program, I felt we were ready,” Drexel says.
The peer review and the MOSH review served as a gap analysis of Scaffold Resource’s safety program. As a result, the company has improved its fall protection recordkeeping.
Forrester Construction also found the process to be beneficial. “No matter how good you’re doing, you can always improve,” Shumar says. “It was particularly insightful to see what MOSH looks at when they do their inspections, and great to know that Forrester is focusing on the same areas.”
One of the best aspects of SPECS is getting to know the MOSH regulators in a new way. “We see each other more often. We have a face with a name. They’re really looking out for our safety on projects. When we did our signing, we went through their facilities and see everything that they offer for training,” Shumar says.
A Competitive Advantage
It will be important going forward for the four ABC Maryland chapters to remain consistent in their reviews and recommendations, Trujillo says. “But we have to remember that we’re looking for safety leaders. Nobody is perfect, so we have to be careful that we don’t create an impossible standard.”
State regulators are also happy with how the SPECS program is taking off.
“What encourages me is the real partnership and trust that we’re developing with ABC and their contractors. William Dallas, assistant commissioner of the Department of Labor, and I are invited and are part of the peer group’s monthly meetings. We can really have an open discussion,” Stump says.
“SPECS is a pilot program for now and based on its success, our hope is to expand to other organizations.”
Drexel notes that MOSH has a limited budget and resources, and having companies become SPECS members allows the DLLR to allocate its resources differently. They don’t have to focus their attention on general contractors and subcontractors that already have outstanding safety programs and can work with companies that need more assistance.
“We can act as mentors to help them with that endeavor—and it doesn’t cost the Maryland taxpayer any money,” Drexel says. “We are trying to elevate the construction safety of every contractor involved on Maryland construction sites.”
Reprinted with permission from E&M Publishers, Building Washington magazine, a publication of ABC of Metro Washington. For more information about SPECS, contact Jason Roberts, ABC of Metro Washington education director, at jroberts@abcmetrowashington.org.
