March 16-April 5, 2016 —
COLORADO REAL ESTATE JOURNAL
— Page 33
W
agner has been serv-
ing customers in
Colorado since 1976.
We extended our
reach and became the Caterpillar
Dealer for New Mexico and far
West Texas in 2002.
Wagner has 30 locations strategi-
cally placed from Hayden Colorado
to El Paso Texas. We specialize
in the rental, sales and service of
Caterpillar products, but also rep-
resent many other brands through
our alliances with Godwin Pumps,
Genie Lifts, AGCO Agricultural
Equipment, SmithCo Trailers, and
many other products.
Regardless of what products
we sell or where, we leverage
our Vision and Values to guide
our actions and achieve our
goals. Wagner’s Vision is
“One
Professional Team Delivering Quality
Solutions to Every Customer”.
We
pride ourselves on creating solu-
tions for our customers. Customers’
need more than a machine, part,
service, or a rental. Customers need
a single solution from a knowledge-
able partner who can deliver value
across all these areas. That’s what
we aspire to do every day.
Our Values set the tone for how
we interact and work together
to deliver you effective solutions.
Our Values are,
Safety • Teamwork
• Excellence • Accountability •
Integrity • Communication.
These simple values mean a great
deal to our business and to our
employees, none more than Safety.
Our ability to meet your needs
as our valued customer starts with
ensuring that our employees are
well trained and embrace a culture
of Safety. We empower our employ-
ees to make great decisions, stop
un-safe acts and engage their peers
when things just don’t seem right.
Our mantra is built on the slogan
“Safety Begins With Me”.
Slogans often come easy but
real adoption of the concept takes
focus, hard work, consistency and
accountability. Wagner has come
a long way in recent years with
regard to establishing a safety
culture. There’s no silver bullet
for sure. The goal of creating a
safety culture is where it begins.
Following are excerpts taken from
a framework for creating a safety
culture that was developed by
OSHA (Occupational Safety &
Health Administration). Wagner
used very similar concepts to cre-
ate our current safety culture. Zero
accidents is always the goal. We’re
not there yet but we’re striving to
get there.
Obtain Top Management "Buy-
in" -
This is the very first step that
needs to be accomplished. Top
managers must be on board. If they
re not, safety and
ealth will com-
ete against core
usiness issues
uch as production
and profitability,
a battle that will almost always be
lost. They need to understand the
need for change and be willing to
support it.
Communication-Continue Building
"Buy-in"
for the needed changes
by building an alliance or partner-
ship between management and
employees. A compelling reason
for the change must be spelled out
to everyone. People have to under-
stand WHY they are being asked
to change what they normally do
and what it will look like if they are
successful. Interestingly, communi-
cation overall on all subjects within
Wagner have improved as a result
of our Safety Culture shift. Folks
just feel more comfortable discuss-
ing important issues as a result of
practicing improved communica-
tion techniques associated with our
safety initiative.
Build Trust -
Trusting is a critical
part of accepting change and man-
agement needs to know that this is
the bigger picture, outside of all the
details. Trust will occur as different
levels within the organization work
together and begin to see success.
Conduct Self Assessments/Bench
Marking -
To get where you want
to go, you must know where you
are starting from. A variety of self-
audit mechanisms can be employed
to compare your site processes with
other recognized models of excel-
lence.
Initial Training of Management-
Supervisory staff, and safety and
health committee members, and
a representative number of hourly
employees.
This may include
both safety and health training
and any needed management,
team building, hazard recogni-
tion, or communication training,
etc. Wagner uses a program called
START- SUPERVISOR TRAINING
IN ACCOUNTABILITY AND
RECOGNITION TECHNIQUES.
Establish a Steering Committee
comprised of management, employ-
ees, and safety staff.
The purpose of
this group is to facilitate, support,
and direct the change processes.
This will provide overall guidance
and direction, avoid duplication of
efforts and focus on what’s impor-
tant for change. To be effective, the
group must have the authority to
get things done.
Develop Site Safety Vision, key
policies, goals, measures, and stra-
tegic and operational plans.
These
policies provide guidance and serve
as a check-in that can be used to
ask yourself if the decision you're
about to make supports or detracts
from your intended safety and
health improvement process.
Align the Organization by estab-
lishing a shared vision of safety and
health goals and objectives vs. pro-
duction.
Upper management must
be willing to support by providing
resources (time and capital) and
holding managers and supervisors
accountable for doing the same.
The entire management and super-
visory staff need to set the example
and lead the change. It's more
about leadership than manage-
ment.
Define Specific Roles and respon-
sibilities for safety and health at all
levels of the organization.
Safety
and health must be viewed as
everyone's responsibility. How the
organization is to deal with com-
peting pressures and priorities,
i.e., production, versus safety and
health, needs to be clearly spelled
out.
Develop a System of
Accountability for all levels of the
organization.
Everyone must play
by the same rules and be held
accountable for their areas of
responsibility. Signs of a strong cul-
ture are when the individuals hold
themselves accountable at both
work and at home.
Develop Measures and an ongoing
measurement and feedback system.
Drive the system with upstream
activity measures that encourages
positive change. Examples include
the number of hazards reported
or corrected, numbers of inspec-
tions, number of equipment checks,
JSA's, pre-start-up reviews con-
ducted, etc.
Develop Policies for Recognition,
rewards, incentives, and ceremo-
nies.
Again, reward employees for
doing the right things and encour-
age participation in the upstream
activities. Continually reevaluate
these policies to ensure their effec-
tiveness and to ensure that they do
not become entitlement programs.
Awareness Training and Kick-off
for all employees.
It's not enough
for a part of the organization to
be involved and know about the
change effort - the entire site needs
to know and be involved in some
manner.
ASAC MEMBER PROFILE
