Safety First: Top Priority

Safety is a core value and top priority at Opus. That includes the safety of our associates, our clients, and anyone on or near our project sites, and it means that we won't compromise safety for any reason – not profit, schedule, nothing.

Our prioritization and approach to safety starts at the top with our CEO and presidents, and continues to be reinforced by our project managers, superintendents, and every associate is individually empowered to support safe workspaces throughout Opus.

We have a dedicated safety team and safety managers who visit job sites for regularly scheduled safety visits and audits. Safety is the first agenda item in daily huddles and project managers and superintendents conduct weekly safety meetings and audits. There are several proactive measures in place for pre-task safety planning, including an intent focus on preventing high fall hazards as well as an enhanced safety emphasis and training with subcontractors.

Additionally, unlike many other firms, Opus has a collaborative relationship with OSHA. On our larger projects, we actually invite them to our sites to do inspections. We invite them in and ask for safety walks and audits. We appreciate having another set of expert eyes to review our processes and view it as a partnership. Most of the time our safety requirements at Opus are more stringent than what OSHA requires, but if there are any concerns noted in their reviews, we do address them immediately.

Sometimes, our clients will have unique safety requirements, and in those cases, we implement practices to ensure our people and subcontractors all adhere to them. For instance, we built a new North American Headquarters for Bunge in St. Louis, Mo. The international food company has a safety requirement for height restrictions on fall restraint that extends beyond anything we've previously seen. So, we worked closely with Bunge and did a fair amount of research to ensure we met their requirements. For cases like Bunge’s, we put full-time Opus safety personnel on the project from start to finish in order to monitor and ensure we meet their specific requirements in addition to our own.

We also think ahead about, and try to integrate safety into the long-term operation of our buildings. For example, as part of the Orchards Senior Living project in Minnetonka, Minn., roof tie-off anchors were not required by code; however, our experts at Opus knew they would be helpful, not only for construction but for the future function of the building. So, we designed permanent anchors into the system and provided them for the customer as part of the project.

Or when designing Flynn Hall for St. Thomas Academy, we devised removable roof sections to allow for simpler access to air handling equipment for maintenance and replacement in the future. The air handling system at Flynn Hall is an interior system, so it can be maintained without going outdoors in the winter. These systems are large, approximately the size of a UPS truck, and the indoor location can become a problem when major repairs are needed. Normally, access can involve cutting into the system to remove sections one-by-one, which is inefficient and costly. So, for St. Thomas Academy, we designed a 10-foot by 10-foot section of removable roof over the system, allowing for a crane to lift the system up and out of the building for repairs and maintenance.

Our commitment to Safety First extends to health and wellbeing as well. For example, with the advent of COVID-19 (C19), Opus formed a C19 Response Team (CRT) to establish clear protocols and proactive planning for our projects and all workspaces, which included careful evaluation of field activities at jobsites. The CRT worked to implement measures quickly, to support safe workspaces and encourage projects to continue moving forward during the crisis. Opus was at the forefront, making adjustments to “business as usual” to mitigate risk of the illness spreading and implementing thorough cleaning and disinfecting protocols if and when there is an exposure. And while some of these measures negatively impacted our normal productivity, these are not normal times, and we are insisting on it. Our number one priority supporting safety for our people and on our jobsites.

See more on our commitment to Safety First here.