Written by Matt Taylor, CHST, SMS

As everyone has experienced, this past year has brought new challenges to our safety efforts. COVID brought in new policies that seemed to change monthly and had contractors implementing different policies that went above and beyond the CDC’s recommendations. This made it difficult for employees at OCP... for that I apologize to all of you. I am, however, proud of all OCP employees for rising to the challenge and implementing the changes as they happened.

OCP expects that OSHA will be rolling out a COVID standard within the first two months of 2021. We will adapt to these new standards when they are announced.

Throughout this demanding timeframe, the OCP team exceeded expectations. OCP Cleveland had its best year ever with recordable accidents, generating a total recordable injury rate of 0.97. This performance has led to the Cleveland Office being nominated for the AWCI (American Walls & Ceilings Industry) Excellence in Safety Award, where they will compete against the top drywall contractors across the nation. OCP Corporate will also compete in this same awards program in a different size category, as it had a total recordable injury rate of 3.9. The industry average for drywall contractors is 3.9.

Looking forward to 2021, OCP will be announcing a Corporate Awards Program that will reward any employee that goes above and beyond in supporting OCP’s Safety Culture. Details of this program will be released in February 2021. Changes in the administration will lead to changes in OSHA. OCP is planning ahead of some of the expected changes. Most will surround silica, respiratory standard, COVID, and a stronger enforcement body leading to more inspections. We have faced these challenges in the past with success and will do so again.

OCP will be reviewing and updating all safety programs in 2021. If anyone would like to be part of this process, please reach out to a Regional Safety Manager.