Three of four MEMIC workplace safety honorees are employee-owned companies
Courtesy / Steel-Pro Inc.
Steel-Pro Inc., of Rockland, one of four Maine employers recognized by MEMIC this year for workplace safety, has improved its safety culture since starting an ESOP.
Being an employee-owned company appears to figure into an improved culture of workplace safety, if the recent MEMIC awards are any indication.
Three of the four employers recognized for workplace safety by MEMIC at its annual meeting of policyholders are employee-owned through an employee stock ownership plan (ESOP), according to a news release.
MEMIC Group is a workers’ compensation insurance firm in Portland.
MEMIC Senior Vice President of Loss Control and Safety Services Karl Siegfried paid tribute to the following employers for their workplace safety efforts:
• ABM Mechanical Inc., of Bangor;
• Kennebunk, Kennebunkport & Wells Water District, of Kennebunk;
• Landry/French Construction Co., of Scarborough; and
• Steel-Pro Inc., of Rockland.
“It’s pretty clear that employee ownership can improve engagement, feedback, employee recruitment and retention in a tight labor market,” MEMIC Safety Management Consultant Hartley Webb said in the release.
Steel-Pro, a custom manufacturer of stainless steel pressure vessels, biopharmaceutical equipment, vacuum chambers and storage tanks, provides a good illustration of how employee ownership improved safety culture.
“Instead of just saying it’s our No. 1 priority, we’ve really empowered everybody to take the time they need, and the action required to do their work safely,” Steel-Pro President Steve Ladd said in the release.
“Steel-Pro’s strong return-to-work program and relationship with their local primary medical provider also helped them receive this recognition,” Webb said in the release. “It also earned them a Safety and Health Achievement Recognition Program Award from the Maine Department of Labor.”
The company was started in 1978 by Chris Beebe and Fred Carey. In 2014 it was converted to an employee-owned company.
Weekly safety shares
Steel-Pro CFO Jeanne Rimm told Mainebiz that, since the ESOP was instituted, its 52 employees have taken more of a personal interest in the safety culture.
“From a business perspective, it was important to improve our safety record,” she said.
The company didn’t have a particularly good record before becoming an ESOP business, she noted. Now, she said, “We all have this common bond of being an employee-owner. We all have the same goals.”
New safety practices since becoming an ESOP include weekly safety shares, when the whole company gets together for 10-15 minutes and discusses hazardous incidents.
Walk-throughs of the fabrication facility are conducted regularly to look for possible safety concerns. Any problems are discussed during the safety shares. The company also has forms for employees to fill out if they have concerns throughout the week; the notes are shared during the weekly session.
Those measures, she said, were “not something we used to do prior to being an ESOP. As a company as a whole, we put a lot of focus on our safety culture and it’s proving to work.”
Since launching the ESOP, she noted, the company, at its safety peak so far, has operated close to 1,000 days without a lost-time incident. It’s currently over 800 days.
Better safety protocols also improve the company’s financial value, because worker compensation premiums go down, she noted.
“Getting this award from MEMIC was huge for us,” she said. “It’s a team effort. This didn’t happen because of just the leadership team. It’s every single employee-owner here.”
Employee involvement
An indication of safety is the “experience modification rate.” The “mod rate” is a calculation related to how much an employer pays into a workers compensation program. A rate of 1 is considered average. A rate that’s above 1 requires a higher workers' comp premium. A rate below 1 results in savings.
Steel-Pro had a mod rate of over 1 before it became an ESOP. The rate is now down to 0.77, Rimm said.
ABM Mechanical Inc.’s safety record stands at an exceptionally low mod rate of less than 0.67 for the last five years, according to the release. With more than 100 employees, ABM is one of the largest mechanical systems contractors in Maine. Founded by Albert Allen, William Brown and Michael McHugh in 1995, it became a 100% employee-owned company in 2016.
“Management is committed to workplace safety and health. They have strong employee involvement and they have a very strong injury management program,” said Webb.
Kennebunk, Kennebunkport and Wells Water District has a mod rate of 0.6. KK&W also received the Maine Department of Labor's Safety and Health Award for Public Employers. MEMIC offers most of the safety training the district needs, as well as additional resources specific to their operations. Established in 1921, the district is the second-longest water utility service area in Maine.
Said MEMIC Safety Management Consultant Alexis Westin, “Their mod factor means they really care about safety and have successfully prevented expensive injuries.”
With offices in Maine and New Hampshire, Landry/French Construction Co. offers construction management, design/build, general contracting services and pre-construction and planning services. Started by Denis Landry and Kevin French in 2010, it is now 100% employee-owned and one of Maine’s fastest-growing companies. Landry/French has been ranked in the top 10 among small companies in the "Best Places to Work in Maine" for the past four years.
“Their leadership from the top down truly embraces the safety mindset MEMIC strives to support,” MEMIC Safety Management Consultant Daniel Thibeault said in the release. “The safety record and culture at Landry/French continues to be an example for other construction companies to follow.”
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