Safety for New Employees on a Superfund Site

AMERICAN RECOVERY & REINVESTMENT ACT (ARRA)
FUSRAP Maywood Superfund Site
Transition for New Hire and Existing Personnel
In February 2009, the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) directed Shaw to commence planning for new employees under ARRA at the Maywood Site.  The following summarizes the steps taken to integrate new hires to avoid safety concerns and loss of production:

• Coordination began with contacting and emphasizing to union Business Agents that safety was the primary concern for all new union hires.
  

• Partnered with the USACE concerning planning and coordination for the OSHA Standard requirement for 3 days of on-the-job-training in addition to 2 days of site specific.                       
  

• Steps were taken to integrate the new hires with experienced craft in transitioning from 3½ crews up to 6 crews.
  

• New staff were also integrated with experienced staff, foremen, and field engineers to create knowledge overlap and shared familiarity amongst the crews.
  

• Practice of bringing new management staff on-site early was used to allow them time to gain onsite knowledge and experienced prior to the work.
  

• Plan of the Day topics and JSAs stressed important field application of topics already covered in class training to avoiding complacency.
  

• Initial work assignments were ensured that new employees were given adequate time to learn site plans and procedures.
  

• Management always maintained an open door approach that encourages questions and interaction between new hires and on-site experienced personnel.