At Venture Construction Group of Florida (VCGFL), we’re constantly improving our safety-enhancing technologies and gaining advanced certifications that boost our knowledge and level of awareness, which means we can sleep better at night, and you can too. In August, we expanded our Stuart office headquarters with state-of-the-art technology that we use to monitor our jobsites throughout the state. We’ve been able to execute all of our safety prowess from our east coast headquarters from the get-go.
How We Level Up: Safety & Advanced Technology
VCGFL is accredited by industry leading organizations, and we’ve received multiple nationally-recognized awards to prove it. We’re proud of the solid reputation we’ve been growing for the past 20 years. We know what it takes to ensure the safety of our VCGFL family and our clients, and we’re equipped and ready to help by exceeding the highest safety standards and integrating the most advanced technology on the market today.
OSHA All the Way
In September, our staff earned Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) Awareness Training Certifications. And, we love getting those certifications under our belts because it means we’re ensuring the highest of safety standards for our team. And by team, we mean everyone, not just our crews and field staff. We include our administrative staff, field superintendents, production managers, roofing crews and sales staff.
We also ramped up and added three amazing OSHA Safety Monitors to our staff this year! Our VCGFL OSHA Safety Team holds OSHA 10, OSHA 30 Certificates and the OSHA 100 Management Certificate, as well as CPR/ AED Certifications. Our CEO Stephen Shanton holds the OSHA 100 Management Certificate and the OSHA 30-Hour and 10-Hour Certificates (also held by our Senior Management Team) which provide advanced tools regarding health and safety awareness to educate supervisors and employees on advanced methods to reduce the risk of workplace hazards.
As our new OSHA Senior Safety Manager Lou Haddad said:
“We are revolutionizing the safety of construction by putting safety first. A delay is better than a disaster.”
In the last 50 years, OSHA has had a staggering effect on safety in the workplace. This federal committee creates safety standards for many industries and they base these standards on meticulous and uncompromising good old-fashioned research. They’re also an enforcing agency that encourages workplace leaders to integrate high standards of safety through their incentive programs. Construction safety is paramount, and OSHA cites the following “Fatal Four” activities as responsible for more than half (63.7%) of construction worker deaths in 2016.
What’s This “Fatal Four” All About?
This is serious stuff and one of the reasons why we maintain our vigilance when it comes to safety in the workplace, especially in our beloved construction industry. According to OSHA, “Out of 4,693 worker fatalities in private industry in calendar year 2016, 21.1% were in construction — that is, one in five worker deaths in the last reporting year were in construction. The leading causes of private sector worker deaths (excluding highway collisions) in the construction industry were falls, followed by struck by object, electrocution, and caught-in/between. Eliminating the Fatal Four would save 631 workers’ lives in America every year.
Emergency Preparedness Measures
Our entire team holds First Aid, CPR, and AED certifications. We require all members of our staff to attend our ongoing training sessions, including our emergency response teams and disaster recovery specialists, field staff and office personnel. Being a part of the construction and insurance restoration industry, we believe it’s crucial that every single member of our team is skilled in all safety measures.
What We’re Doing at VCGFL: Leading the Way In Advanced Safety & Technology
We’ve integrated state-of-the-art technology in our offices and on our jobsites to ensure safety standards are monitored with the most advanced tools on the market. Our Florida office headquarters has a Video Wall of nine HD televisions that livestream all of our jobsites, and of course, multiple weather channels. We monitor our jobsites 24/7 with EarthCam webcam services and 4G LTE TrueLook cameras that provide high definition security and project time-lapsing video on each and every project in progress. These tools allow us to protect our clients, properties, staff and critical infrastructure. We also utilize Matterport 3D cameras that record a full-scale 360-degree three-dimensional view of our jobsites. The webcams allow us to monitor and document our construction projects with high resolution megapixel cameras and we can view all jobsite activity in real time. We also added a Digital Touch Screen Table by Digital Touch Systems to our array of advanced technology. Forget the boring conference table, the Touch Screen Table provides an interactive presentation and display environment that enhances the way we interact and collaborate with our colleagues before, during and after the project. There are a lot of documents to review! We can gather the team, engineers, architects, OSHA Safety Monitors, and more around this table to view our project scopes, plans, photos, details and satellite imagery – on zoom mode! No detail left behind. Also a bonus: paperless productivity means we use less trees – WIN! We’re very excited about these upgrades to our safety toolbox.
Did We Mention Weather Monitoring?
Our Video Wall also allows us to monitor the weather on multiple stations on multiple screens and that is an absolute necessity during major storm events. Remember that anchor faking the heavy winds of Hurricane Florence? We sure noticed those fine details on our extensive HD TV displays while monitoring the storm! While the world had a few laughs at the horror of this anchorman, so desperate for ratings, fake news is simply wrong, and especially terrifying for those affected by a major storm event. As a construction and restoration company, it’s our job and our duty to report to you the most accurate news and updates, which is why we’re also FEMA certified, a registered U.S. Federal Government Contractor, and carry the nation’s leading storm damage accreditations, memberships and certifications. We were recently featured on our extensive Hurricane Michael relief efforts in the Florida Panhandle on CBS 12 News and WPBF 25 News.
Drones Drones Drones
VCGFL was a first adopter of utilizing drones during the inspection process when the technology first hit the market in 2015. Drones have come a long way since then, and we continue to integrate the most advanced drones in our operations. Aerial drone photography and video provides rich, detailed information that is essential in our industry. Drone footage paves the way for improvements in construction management including building and roof inspections, mapping and surveying services. We also provide thermal infrared roof scans and inspections that can detect leaks and moisture intrusion instantly. Utilizing drone footage increases efficiencies and improves safety measures while providing advanced documentation and enhanced reporting.
Safety First
You can count on VCGFL to have your back when it comes to utilizing the most advanced technology and safety standards in the construction industry. Your peace of mind is our priority. We’re excited to continue our mission of maintaining the industry’s leading accreditations, adopting innovative technology practices, and prioritizing ongoing education.
