Project safety planning includes up to four levels of safety meetings. This division chose to hold safety meetings rather than write project safety plans. This decision was made because verbal discussions bring awareness of safety issues unique to the project. Written plans become a burden and therefore punishment to the responsible parties. The levels of safety meetings are discussed below:

Preconstruction Meeting
Large state sponsored paving jobs will start with a preconstruction meeting that involves Department Of Transportation (DOT), project leaders, traffic control, EHS, Human Resources, senior management, estimators, subcontractors, etc… Safety is just one aspect of a preconstruction meeting. All identifiable (job specific) safety hazards should be discussed. This level of preconstruction meeting is required by DOT for certain job types.

Project Safety Meeting
Most jobs will start with a project safety meeting. These meetings will be held onsite prior to the start of the job. The goal of a project safety meeting will be to identify hazards, and plan accordingly (PPE, routes policies, procedures, etc). The project safety meeting should be attended by key personnel involved in the project, including subcontractors.

Take 5 for Safety
Each working day should begin with a Take 5 (T5) meeting. The T5 goal is to bring safety forward for all employees. The safety topics should be concerning the work that is to be accomplished for that day and the hazards that may exist. All APAC employees are expected to participate in the T5 program.

Pre-Task Safety Analysis
Some projects are performed infrequently that may be inherently dangerous, such as moving a plant component. A pre-task safety meeting must be performed so that vital information can be distributed to those people in the work area. Items to be established are as follows:

    1. Identify the project leader. This person is directly responsible for the task.
    2. Identify the goals of the task and how they are to be performed.
    3. Identify the danger zones and the appropriate PPE needed.
    4. Communicate any other information that is needed to perform the task safely.