Setting a New Standard for Safety

By Colin Sheehan, RCS Reporter. 

What every roofing contractor can learn from Tremco's dedication to preventing injury and death on the job.  

Roofing is considered the fourth most dangerous job in the U.S. After conducting rigorous research with data from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, The Center for Construction Research and Training (CPWR) found that out of 700 construction fatalities that occurred between 1982 and 2015, 75% were caused by falls.  

Within these 33 years of data, workers who had less than two months of experience on the job accounted for 20% of the deaths, and 54% of the workers did not have access to a Personal Fall Arrest System (PFAS). Further, 23% did have access to a PFAS, but did not use it. CPWR concluded that 75% of the fatalities could have been avoided if the workers had access to a PFAS and had better safety training, especially at the start of their career.  

One company that is creating a new standard for safety in the roofing industry is Tremco Roofing. The members of Tremco Roofing’s Health and Safety team are highly committed to ensuring the safety of their workers and have developed a stunning culture of safety within their company. 

Director of Health and Safety Rolando Lewis has spent his entire career in the construction industry as a safety engineer and corporate safety manager. He accepted Tremco’s offer to build the strongest culture of safety in the industry. 

“Our vision for safety at Tremco is deeply rooted in our overall commitment to that effort, and therefore safety has become the cornerstone and will continue to be the cornerstone of our business,” said Rolando in this video. “The things that we ask [workers] to do on a daily basis are solely to protect [them] in this organization and make sure that [they] get back to [their] families.” 

Sarah Panter, health and safety administrator at Tremco, knows from personal experience how important it is for a company to care and dedicate time and energy to the safety of their workers.“ I had a family member who was injured,” said Sarah. “That company did not consider prevention on a list of their priorities; it felt like you were more of a number.”  

When Sarah saw how much Tremco valued safety, she wanted in. “I saw a group of safety professionals who were committed to keeping people safe,” said Sarah. “They are not living by mandates, it’s a way of life here. I could see their vision and I wanted to be part of it.” 

Tremco’s safety team covers the entire U.S., including Puerto Rico, and they have a safety manager in Canada. They also have a senior safety manager in the United Kingdom.  

“Anywhere there is a field presence, there is safety presence,” Rolando told Karen Edwards, RoofersCoffeeShop® editor. “The team travels everywhere that we have work. We respond to incidents that may occur, but we try hard to be proactive and prevent incidents from happening at all.” 

Watch this video to learn more about Tremco’s dedication to safety. 

Learn more about Tremco Roofing in their RoofersCoffeeShop® Directory or visit www.tremco.com.