A Trusted Safety Partner to the Project Owner
Challenge
Large construction projects often develop distinct operational cultures. With multiple companies involved—each bringing its own practices, values and expectations—effective collaboration is crucial to delivering the project efficiently and within budget. Contractual agreements define formal roles and responsibilities, but project owners often expect more, including alignment with their core values, especially in areas like safety.
TRC has a long-standing relationship with a leading pharmaceutical company, serving as the owner’s safety representative on numerous construction projects for over a decade. The client typically maintains active involvement in each project. However, during a recent 2.5-year project, the owner delegated site control to the Construction Manager (CM). Despite stepping back, the owner still expected its safety values and standards to be upheld throughout the project lifecycle.
Relevant Services
Solution
To bridge the gap between the owner’s expectations and the CM’s operational control, TRC facilitated early and open communication. In the early project stages, our team met with the CM to share the owner’s construction safety program. In turn, the CM, with our support, presented their own safety protocols to the owner. Both parties had well-established safety systems, prompting a collaborative decision to create a hybrid safety program that included:
- Conducting a gap analysis between the two safety programs.
- Developing a joint site orientation for all trade workers on-site.
- Hosting monthly safety roundtables to encourage open discussion and address concerns.
- Including safety as a standing item on weekly project meetings.
- Conducting weekly joint safety walks and maintaining daily communication between TRC and the CM.
Results
The integrated safety program allowed the CM to meet the owner’s standards without significantly altering their operational approach. Over the 2.5-year duration of the $75+ million project, there was no lost-time incidents and only one minor recordable injury. The project thoroughly passed an OSHA inspection with zero citations and there were no union grievances or safety-related inquiries, even during a six-week second shift. Ultimately, our coordination efforts turned three distinct entities—the owner, the CM and TRC—into a unified team. The success of this project and results of the safety program has led to additional contracts by the same pharmaceutical client.