Category Archives: Safety

2019 MSHA Training

The snow is finally melting and paving season is right around the corner, so it’s time for our annual MSHA refresher training before work kicks off! We held our 2019 MSHA Training on February 27, 2019 and the day was full of great tips, tricks and knowledge that can be brought back to the job and implemented.

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We broke out to training rooms to get some detailed safety tips. Eric our Mining Engineer gave us a run down on proper Mounting & Dismounting technique from trucks and equipment, and Kendra and Kaleigh from our Safety Department recapped our Hazardous Material containment policies. Our electricians Mike and Kevin walked us through electric safety and the invisible dangers of electricity, Liberty Mutual Certified Industrial Hygienist Vic informed us about the hazards silt and silica play in our health and lung safety, and we took a quick stretch break to stay limber with our Fit For Work partners Ken and Kyra.

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We solemnly recapped the 2019 industry fatalities, Peter our Field Safety Lead brushed us up on confined spaces precautions, Michael our Cranston Site Manager gave us some great Hot Work tips, Cody our Lunenburg Site Manager drove home the importance of good housekeeping for safety and we were joined by Pat O’Neil from Impact Fire to give us a refresher on Fire Extinguisher usage.

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We ended the day by reviewing the upcoming site changes to all our Plants and what safety issues and hazards they may pose.

Thanks to all who joined us for our 2019 MSHA training, we look forward to starting the season off on a safe foot!

2019 CORE Award Dinner

Over the weekend we celebrated all of our CORE award winners for the year of 2017. We made sure to include their families in the festivities too so they can see their loved ones recognized!

We have a saying here at P.J. Keating, that we like to “Make Safety our Family Business.” When we leave for work in the morning, our families expect us home safe and sound in the evening. Putting safety first means that everyone gets to go home at the end of the day.

Because our families are so important to us, we invited them to our CORE Award Dinner last Saturday so they could join us in celebrating and honoring their family members who put safety first.

CORE stands for Commitment to Operations Reflecting Excellence in Safety, and it’s an award to recognize teams who go above and beyond in regards to safety. We heard about a lot of successful and safe projects with 0 incidents and we hope to have even more next year!

Our 2018 CORE Award winners who were recognized over the weekend are…

For the Acushnet Stripping Project, January 15 2018 – March 8th, 2018 : Joe Ryan, Doug Fredette, Jim Imlach, Gilly Mello, Barry Costa, Dale DaCosta, John Viega, Pete Szala

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For the Acushnet Hydroset Cylinder Replacement Project in : Justin Vieira, Ken Viera

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For the Lunenburg Asphalt Drum Installation in : Eric Morin, Brian Contois, Gary Savoie, Jay Valliere, Mike Reynolds, Dan Richard

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For the Acushnet Rubber Plant Set-up and Start-up in : Bruce Miranda, Claudio Moco, Shawn Fournier, Mike Reynolds, Kevin Bailey, Mike Bulcamino, Jonathan Souza, Bryant Ribeiro, Kyle Waite, Mike Letourneau.

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For the Lunenburg QC Sample Rack Improvements : Kaitlyn LeBlanc, Gary Savoie, Dan Zeppenfeld.

For the Emergency Rt 84 Bridge Deck Repairs: Brandon Rudik, Don Magoon and Gianni Diaz.

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For his Implementation of a “Golden Lute, Golden Shovel Award”: Andrew Clark

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For Safety Excellence and his dedication to Driver Training”: Dan Jockell

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For the Lunenburg Shop 5S’s”: Damon Brown, Craig Thibault, Evan Arraial, John Silva, Ken Hart

and a special Safety Excellence award was awarded to Patricia Ferreira for always being a fantastic point person for safety, and looking out for all she interacts with!

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Congratulations to all, we hope 2019 will be just as safe and successful!

3 Million Hours!

You may have heard it many times by now, but we truly put Safety first here at P.J. Keating! To congratulate our efforts and dedication to safety, we have recently received two awards recognizing our Safety efforts across all our various lines of businesses and plants. P.J. Keating has hit 3 MILLION hours of work without a Lost Time Incident, and we couldn’t be prouder!

We have received an award and a commendation letter signed by Randy Lake, John Keating, John Parson, and Lee Cole, stating “This type of achievement doesn’t happen by accident and requires intense focus and commitment by the entire organization. The example you set is a great encouragement to all of us and one we’re pleased to share – you’ve proven that it’s possible to create an environment that is free from significant injury. Every one of us on the Oldcastle Materials team has made a personal pledge to accept our role in building our safety culture – “When I SEE something I will STOP and Do something”. Thanks for exemplifying that commitment and challenging us to get better.”

We also received an Outstanding Safety Performance award from Liberty Mutual recognizing P.J. Keating as completing 2017 without a Lost Time incident!

Congratulations and thank you to all of our staff who put Safety first here at P.J. Keating to make these achievements possible! We look forward to completing 2018 in the same fashion. 🙂

Liberty Mutual Award

P. J. Keating 2018 Kick Off!

It was an exciting week here at PJK last week!

On Tuesday, February 27th we held our annual Operations Kick-Off with a follow up day of MSHA training on Wednesday, February 28th. Both days were a great success! We gathered together to celebrate the start of the season and hear about P. J. Keating’s plans for 2018.

Our President Jonathan gave us a review of PJK’s 2017 and how we’re looking to improve in the coming year, as well as our Safety Goals for 2018 because safety is just as important as production!
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Kelly, our HR manager gave us a rundown of the harassment and employment policies at P. J. Keating to make sure that we maintain the best work environment possible for our employees.

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Our Environmental Health and Safety Manager Kendra then walked us through the new PJK Safety Manual. The Environmental Health and Safety team have been hard at work rewriting them. New words, but our #1 goal is always the same!

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At MSHA training on Wednesday we heard from various Safety and Quarry Personnel regarding best practices to keep everyone at P. J. Keating safe, and reviewing MSHA policies and how they relate to our quarries and job sites specifically.

Ken and Kyra from Fit4Work gave us some stretching and exercise tips to keep everyone limber, and Billy Simas walked us all through CPR and Defibrillator training in case of emergencies.
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The PJK Operations Kick off was a great success! We look forward to the Construction / Asphalt Kick off meeting on March 20th. Please keep a look out for you invitations in the mail.

2018 CORE Award Dinner

Over the weekend we celebrated all of our CORE award winners for the year of 2017. We made sure to include their families in the festivities too so they can see their loved ones recognized!

Our CORE Award is a safety award which is handed out to recognize employees for their commitment to our safety culture. CORE is an acronym that stands for Commitment to Operations Reflecting Excellence in Safety, and our award is made from actual asphalt and stone core that PJK QC takes for testing! It’s focused on recognizing teams or projects that have worked together to prioritize safety in their spaces.

We’re so thankful to have had a great and safe year, and so proud to have so many employees who echo our commitment to safety!

Our 2017 CORE Award winners who were recognized over the weekend are…

For the Acushnet Wash Screw Replacement in February: Ken Moniz, Mario DaCosta, Bryant Ribeiro, Mike Lopes and John Dugan.

For the QC Lab Improvements in March: John DeNapoli, Nick Persson, Jason Osterfield, Ryan Worsman.

For the Road Washout Repair in April: George Cormier and Ed Venkauskas.

For the Route 18 New Bedford MassDOT Job in May: Dave Anderson, Carlos Rebello, Dan Burns, Tony Amarelo, Chad Rebello, Alyssa Santos, Roberto Salemme, Luis domonte, Richard Pavao, Derek Dias.

For the 495 Mansfield Staging/Parking Plan in June: Von Chan, Emanuel Arraial, Mark Fortes, William Jandrue, Christine Rose, Luis Domonte, Chad Rebello, Roberto Salemme, Evan Arraial, Derek Dias.

For the Weston Tolls in July & August: Fernando Estrela and Ed Peterson.

For the QC Operational Improvements in September & October: Lenny Catojo, Jason Osterfield, Dan Zeppenfield, Matt Robertson, Aaron Couto, Justin Drewniak, Claudio Moco, Mike Letourneau and Brian Fitzgerald.

 

Congratulations to all, we hope 2018 will be just as safe and successful!

Rescue Team Prepares Emergency Response Drill for Acushnet Plant

We are pleased to welcome the Bristol County Technical Rescue Team (BCTRT) to the Acushnet plant, as they prepare an overall emergency response plan.

Funded by Homeland Security, the BCTRT includes local firefighters and other first response professionals who train for advanced life-saving rescue skills on-call across the region. The rescue team recently toured the Acushnet plant with site manager, Jeff Olejniczak and safety lead, Lauri Conner.

The rescue team has planned an emergency response drill at the screen tower in order to prepare for a fall from heights scenario. The date of the drill has been postponed due to the recent thunderstorms, and will be re-scheduled weather permitting. Plans to work with regional rescue teams in the Lunenburg, Cranston, and Dracut areas are to be announced.

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ACU screen tower

Safety Committee Takes Action to resolve Paving Crew’s Concerns

The committee recently focused on the ergonomic concerns raised by Carlos Rebello’s crew. By installing a side body rack for jackhammers, the strain of lifting and lowering hand tools throughout the work day has been minimized. Because ascending and descending into the tailgate was identified as a slip and fall hazard, a step and handrail has been installed as a solution to enable the 3-points of contact safety method.

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Rack for jackhammer

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Step for tailgate

Health & Safety Experts Evaluate Noise & Dust at Quarry & Stone Plants

A selection of employees will don monitors which measure the levels of exposure of noise and dust on site to ensure that it is compliant and within a safe range. An Industrial Hygiene consultant is making the rounds to each site, and will provide expert analyses. Monitoring is scheduled to take place at the Acushnet plant in the upcoming days, weather permitting. Testing has been completed at the Cranston and Lunenburg plants, with lab results and recommendations to follow.

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IH testing

September Safety Awards

Welcome to our Safety Award roundup for the month of September! Our crews were hard at work keeping P. J. Keating employees, crews and sites safe so we have many people to thank!

First we have Mandy Denio, our staff accountant, who was recognized with a Safety Award for her quick thinking in the Lunenburg office by reorganizing a large delivery all by herself which had posed a trip/fall hazard in our entrance way!
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Dave DelGenio was awarded a Safety Award this month for his safe and effective Route 38 Water Pipe repair outside of our Dracut plant! He coordinated with Dracut DPW and had the repair finished with zero incidents.
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Next up is Brian Quin and Eric Ward, who were both recognized with a Safety Award for their emergency repair on a safety belt at the Lunenburg Stone Plant. Emergency repairs on safety equipment is crucial for keeping the rest of the crews safe now and in the future, so we’re very thankful for their work and especially that they completed it with zero incidents!
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Last but not certainly not least we have our first place Safety Award Winner, who we are happy to announce is Craig Thibault this month! He helped prevent an MSHA citation by assisting the operator of a haul truck with the proper operation of the emergency steering system when he was unable to activate it. Way to go Buzzy!

CORE Award:
The CORE award is team or project-based award and the trophy is actually made in house with cores of HMA and aggregate from our QC lab to further reinforce the commitment to our business, how cool!

For their safety performance on the Weston Toll Plaza Project, our CORE award was awarded to Fernando Estrela and Ed Peterson! They were responsible for mobilizing equipment and crews across a 6 lane highway with multiple ramps and many obstacles and did so successfully and incident free over 45 shifts.
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Fernando and Ed CORE Award 9.21.2017

We are thankful for all our Safety and CORE Award Winners and all P. J. Keating employees who put safety first. Congratulations to all and lets hope for another safe month in this upcoming October.

July Safety Awards

July’s Safety Awards are in!

Our first safety winners are from Acushnet Asphalt; Bruce Miranda, Claudio Moco, Mike Letourneau and Mike Bulcamino. When an exhaust fan developed a crack during production and needed immediate repairs, the Acushnet Asphalt team took action. The plant was shutdown and the team worked together to develop a JSA and plan the repair procedure. They also took steps to ensure the external maintenance workers that needed to be called in were up-to-date on their JSA and included in their Lock-Out/Tag-Out procedure. Congratulations to the Acushnet Asphalt team for efficiently repairing the safety hazard and making sure all safety steps were taken in their procedures!

Acushnet Asphalt Safety

Our CORE award for July is awarded to Von Chan and his crew made up of Emanuel Arraial, Mark Fortes, William Jandrue, Christine Rose, Luis Domonte, Chad Rebello, Roberto Salemme, Evan Arraial and Derek Dias for their work on the 495 Mansfield project!

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