Rancho Mesa Account Executive Amber Webb sits down with Regional Safety Director of Ryan Companies Toni DiDomenico to discuss her professional career at Ryan Companies, her unique experience in the construction industry, and best practices.

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Ryan Companies US, Inc.

Director/Producer: Alyssa Burley

Host: Amber Webb

Guest: Toni DiDomenico

Editor: Lauren Stumpf

Music: "Home" by JHS Pedals, “News Room News” by Spence

Transcript

Amber Webb: Hi. This is Amber Webb account, executive of the MEP Group tat Rancho Mesa. Thank you for joining me and listening to this episode of Getting to Know Your General Contractor Safety Protocol brought to you by StudioOne™, our Safety and Risk Management Network. Today's guest is Tony DiDomenico, a regional safety director at Ryan Company Hi, Tony. Welcome to the show.

Tony DiDomenico: Good afternoon, Amber. Thank you so much for having me.

AW: I'm so glad you're able to make it. So let's begin by finding out a little bit about you and Ryan Companies. So how did you get into construction safety?

TD: It's been quite a history, and I age myself when I talk about my history getting into construction safety. But back in 1995, I graduated with a degree in Occupational Safety and health. I was working part time, in an occupational physical therapy clinic and it was heartbreaking to see the people that were there doing rehabilitation to get back to work. So I checked into the safety and health program at the university and thought, you know what? If I can keep people out of these facilities, that would be fantastic. I was like, this is what I want to do. Again, first class that I took, I knew this was going to be my career. Shortly after that, I moved to Arizona and worked for ten years, just over ten years with the Arizona OSHA Department. Learned a lot, had top of the line training, got to visit manufacturing facilities, construction job sites, got a real diverse range of workplaces to visit. But construction and cranes and heavy equipment has always been my love. So after ten years with the government, I decided to step out and do my own thing. I started my own company of Tony Di and Associates, did that for almost 13 years and then got the offer to come to work for Ryan Companies and gladly accepted. So again, to be in construction, it's fascinating to me to see the end product. It's even more fascinating to see it from the beginning all the way through to ribbon cutting. So quite the history to get here, but so happy to be here.

AW: That's amazing. You have had such a unique background in history of experience coming up to where you are now. That's really impressive. So tell us a little bit about Ryan Companies and the types of projects you build.

TD: So we've got a broad range. Not only do we have a broad range of projects that we build, but we're all about a happy customer and to make a happy customer one of the things that we have found is the fewer companies that they have to communicate with to get their project built and to fruition is we develop it, we have an architectural and engineering department that designs it. We have the construction that builds it, and then we have the property management that manages the building once it's complete. So from start to finish, we like to cover it all so they only have to communicate with one entity, and then we specialize in office, health care, industrial, mixed use buildings, retail, senior living is a very hot market for us and we're very successful in the senior living, and then hospitality. So again, that's a pretty broad range. But again, we're thrilled to be able to hand over just absolutely beautiful facilities to senior living facilities. Beautiful. I mean, what a place to retire. And these are assisted living and extended living. But yeah, absolutely beautiful facilities.

AW: Yeah, that sounds awesome. And I know Ryan's slogan is building stories. So we build stories, which I think is awesome as well. I'm sure with all of those building types, you have plenty of stories to tell.

TD: Yes. Yep.

AW: So how much value does Ryan Companies put into safety when considering a subcontractor to work with?

TD: So when considering a subcontractor, Ryan has seven values. Our top value is safety, for us, for our subcontractors, because we know that the subcontractors are a team. They're on our project, and they help us become who we are today contributing to safe hours on our projects. And again, yes, building those stories, our motto before we were building stories that used to be building relationships. And I used to tell subcontractors, you know what? Come on board. Build that good relationship with us so that you can get the next job the next job and the next job with Ryan Companies. Let's build that partnership and then again, do these projects successfully together.

AW: I love that. And that's such a big role in our industry, too. On the insurance side, it's all about building relationships, so that's amazing. So do you require all subcontractors to fill out a qualification questionnaire to be allowed on to your job sites?

TD: We do. And most specifically, anything over pretty much a $200,000 budget or bid. We would require a subcontractor to do a qualification questionnaire. We use the preconstruction platform known as Building Connected, and we have kind of created our own questionnaire for what we want to focus on to the big things. Are your experience modification rate and your OSHA history. And then third, kind of in conjunction with that is do you have a safety director? And if so, can we have the individual's information to reach out to in the event that we need to? So, yes, the Building Connected is what we have them fill out and we review.

AW: Yeah, that's awesome. I agree. Having those safety director contact information available to you is, I imagine, extremely helpful in terms of getting a subcontractor on board. It for any particular project.

TD: Well, one of the things there to Amber that it might tie into that part, but when they fill out the questionnaire, we have a team at Ryan Companies that receives these questionnaires and they look at them and determine who the questionnaire needs to be distributed to questionnaires when the contractor's BMR is greater than one or if they have an OSHA history for the last four years, it gets distributed to the safety department. So down here in the south from California to Florida, if it's in my region, I receive that questionnaire and I start reviewing it. So again, it kind of gets reviewed and then sent to the safety department for again, those two items, EMR greater than one and OSHA Citation history, they have OSHA citations in their history.

AW: That's perfect. So what advice would you offer to a subcontractor in putting together their safety information for you to review?

TD: Be honest and be thorough. So I'll get a contractor that will get sent my way and maybe they're just over a one on their EMR and they'll have no history on their citations from OSHA and I always take it upon myself to run a history on a contractor, whether they list anything or not. If it comes across my desk and I have seen contractors eliminate and not put in their OSHA history and will therefore not approve them because again, that's information. And what they don't understand is that I will take the time if I have questions or comments on their history or their EMR I'll call them and ask them, Can you please explain? And there have been times where I've reached out multiple times even to a contractor, and they won't return my phone call, and therefore I have to disapprove them. But again, so best advice is be honest and be thorough in your responses to the questionnaire. Because it's important information to us at Ryan.

AW: I love that advice. So with that being said, if you see that a subcontractor has had a spike in their X mod that puts them above one prior to working with you, other than running a history report from OSHA. Are there other actions that Ryan's safety team might take?

TD: Yep. I'll look to see if they've got a safety director, their safety director that's my first phone call. And I'll ask and you know, I've had multiple subcontractors that tell me, you know what, I've got 50 employees, I've got 15 employees. And it only takes one very small injury to spike your EMR when you're that small of an employer. Or maybe it was a motor vehicle accident where somebody was traveling to the job and was involved in a motor vehicle accident and it was covered by worker's compensation. You know, motor vehicle accidents are the top of the list for injuries. And, you know, there's not much we can do about that on a Ryan Project. So again, there are understandable situations. So I'll make that phone call to see if there's an understandable situation that increase that EMR.

AW: That's awesome that you take the time to look into the situations because like you said, there are sometimes reasons that are not necessarily in control of the subcontractor with regard to the Ryan jobsite. So I know sometimes insurance companies will write a letter explaining the subcontractor specific safety situation with regard to maybe a spike in their X mod. Are letters like this, explaining the subcontractor specific safety situation considered when making a decision to allow the subcontractor to work on your jobs?

TD: Absolutely. We've had to kind of re modify how we review initially our questionnaires because for whatever reason, I've had a spike of questionnaires coming my way. And for example, they'll list that their EMR is zero for the past four years and there has to be an explanation, right, why it's a zero. New companies, for example, will be provided an EMR typically of a one until they establish an EMR. But when it's a zero and I called this company up and spoke with the safety gal and she didn't know what an EMR was, I asked her to call her insurance company. She replied back and she told me she's like, "This is all my insurance company would provide me and I can't find what you're looking for." Looked at the form that she provided me and down at the very bottom it listed her EMR is 0.65. So I had to educate her through the whole process of how to get her EMR and what it was and ended up approving them. But it was quite the process for me to take the time to educate her how to find her EMR. So now the team that receives the questionnaires, if they see zeros for the EMR, they'll reach out before they send it to me in the safety department. They'll reach out and get that explanation or that discussion. And I've had a number since then come across with that simple letter that says, hey, their premium isn't high enough to qualify for an EMR. Perfect. You don't have an OSHA history. You're not large enough to qualify for an EMR, still approved, and you got to go through all the other pre-qualification process with Ryan Companies but you've made it through the first step just by submitting that information. Then we have companies that have an excessive OSHA history that maybe we'll have a conversation with them, that they have made drastic improvements such as they've created a safety program, they've hired a safety director, they've brought in a third party safety consulting company to assist them, maybe they provide their ocean 300 log to demonstrate that they've had zero injuries and illnesses for the year. That will hopefully contribute to decreasing their EMR. But again, showing that they're making improvements, all those things can be looked at and we can sometimes and we've had subcontractors where we make an agreement with them that they come on board their first day. They'll start with a full time on site safety supervisor to oversee their trade. But again, yes, we're willing to have conversation. We're willing to compromise, we're willing to figure out a way to work with you and to partner with you on this project for sure.

AW: Well, that's awesome that Ryan Companies has the flexibility to really dive into the subcontractor's safety history and just find out what's going on. Because like you said, there's exceptions to situations that can be explained, I guess would be the best way to word that. So in your opinion, what separates one subcontractor from another in terms of safety?

TD: I guess what they've committed to safety. You know, again, with Ryan having such a value on safety, we kind of expect that from our subcontractors as well. And even if and we come across it a lot but even if a subcontractor doesn't have a designated safety director trying to dive in a little bit deeper to find out what their culture is. Are they willing to purchase equipment to make the project safer? Are they willing to allow a third party consultant to assist them? Are they willing to? And a lot of small subcontractors don't know about the good side of the house that OSHA, the consultation side of the house, it's an absolutely free service. They come out and they offer assistance. They write a report but it's only a review and they make recommendations or they write what they call hazard details. If a subcontractor is not complying with OSHA rules and regulations, OSHA consultation will write a hazard detail, and it's based on that agreement that if we point out something, you agree to fix it. But again, it's free. No citations, no penalties. So we'll offer that subcontractor, Hey, maybe you bring out OSHA consultation to help you out. Again, it's a free service and they can assist you in compliance. So again, what value do you place on safety? Is it similar to us at Ryan Companies? And I think that's the most important thing. And then your program, how you communicate to your employees, reprimand policy, and we're definitely not looking at, hey, you're on the top step of the ladder, therefore you're fired. We're not looking at that. Do you do coaching and correcting? Do you do regular training? And it doesn't take a safety director to do that. Management can do that. So, yeah, those would be some keys for me.

AW: You make such a good point about OSHA's consultation services. And it – it’s I guess, ironic that Rancho Mesa, for our listeners out there. We're actually hosting a webinar with Cal OSHA, well, specifically Cal Osha’s consultation services to go over what they offer and help our clients and prospects understand the services that are available through OSHA that are, like you said, not going to site you, they're there to help you and improve upon your safety program. So that's just ironic we're hosting that on January 13th, next year. So early 2022. So and we'll post about that at the bottom of our podcast here. So thanks for pointing that out.

TD: You're welcome. And that's an awesome resource. I spent about seven of my ten years at Arizona OSHA in the consultation side of the house, and it was amazing. You know, people would call with questions and I would tell them, you know, why don't you invite us out? And "Oh no, I can't bring OSHA to our job site." So, I'd have to go through the host bill. We're free. We don't issue citations and penalties were confidential from the compliance side of the House. I'm not going to come back and report to them. It would be a misdemeanor on my part to do that, and I'm not going to do that. So yeah, I'd have to do some reassuring. Some employers still would not invite OSHA out. It was like OSHA was taboo, but OSHA has a wealth of resources to help employers, specifically the small ones, for sure. Absolutely.

AW: Yeah, I totally agree. And that's partly why Rancho Mesa is partnering with Cal OSHA to try to help eliminate that stigma and allow people, contractors to understand well, everybody to understand that they're there to help that side of the house is there to improve upon your safety program, not site you on what you're doing wrong. So they want to help eliminate those issues. So that's awesome. I'm really glad that you brought that up and that you have that experience firsthand. So are there any safety designations or attributes that really elevate a subcontractor safety resume in the eyes of Ryan Companie's safety department?

TD: I don't think so. An EMR lower than your industry and lower than one, no OSHA citation history, and I should be careful when I say no citation history. Some folks have a history with OSHA citations, but maybe it's a non-serious citation. It's not a repeat citation. It's nothing that was life threatening nothing like that. So those two items and again, probably the basis for why those are on the questionnaire, those would be the premise. And then yes, the plus would be having a safety director, but again, not required. You're maintaining a low EMR and no OSHA history with no safety director. Kudos, because you've got probably management commitment, probably got your employees involved in creating safety protocols for your company and you've probably got the culture there to have those employees comply with your protocol and make a safe job site. So those would probably be the only two that I could think of right off the top.

AW: That makes sense. Totally. So does Ryan Companies offer any jobs safety trainings for their subcontractors throughout the progress of a project?

TD: We do, and you know, it depends on the need. And I'll reference so we've got a project right now in Kansas City. It's a wood framing project. The majority of workers are Spanish-speaking and our regional safety director from the north, Pedro Lopez. He has been spending multiple visits at this Kansas City project, number one, providing OSHA ten hour training in Spanish to this subcontractor because they are a smaller contractor. And we're not able to provide no one not be able to take the time away from the job to find somebody to provide the training. So Pedro goes right to the job, takes a couple hours out of their day to provide a couple hours of training each day that he's there in a language that they understand and getting them again certified under OSHA ten. That's one small example. Pedro, also because of the high number of Spanish-speaking individuals, came to me on a project in California and helped me perform our All Hands monthly job meeting. And the appreciation from the workers was just profound. You know, they so greatly appreciate that we're trying to reach out and communicate and we've got third parties that do it. But for them to see somebody with a Ryan hat come on the job and interpret to them and have a discussion with them means a lot. So yes, there's a multitude of training opportunities. The federal government has a fall prevention campaign that they hold in May every year. We participated in the very first one and have participated every year, but it requires a day during the week of May to do a stand down shut the job site down. Talk about falls, fall prevention, fall awareness. We bring in fall demonstration vehicles where they do fall demonstrations. We've brought in a semi-truck to another facility that had the training videos in the semi-trailer so the people could go and watch for prevention videos, see what kind of equipment is available for their use. So again, a multitude of different training opportunities. I mean, it's a different topic, but it's definitely a way that Ryan Companies was able to reach out in these last 18 months. But we've had multiple COVID-19 stand downs talking about how to keep yourself safe and healthy, not only on the job. We let people know what we were doing as Ryan Companies to increase our hand-wash facilities, hand sanitizers, common touched areas and washing those down more frequently. So not only how to protect yourself at work, but how to take that home and protect your families and keep yourself and your family safe at home. So COVID-19 was another one. Again, we did multiple stand downs in education, trying to help people understand that whole ordeal. So I hope that.

AW: Yeah, that that is so awesome that Ryan Companies is clearly dedicated to the safety of, like you said, everybody in Ryan Companies employees as well as all the subcontractors that are on your job sites. It's very clear that when you take that much time to provide all these different resources and educate, like you said, the subcontractors, that safety is the top value for Ryan Companies, which is amazing. I'm sure all the subcontractors are happy to hear that as well and probably want to work with you more for that exact reason. So another quick question for you. Does Ryan Companies have any incentive programs for their subcontractors to remain safe, such as safety awards or anything like that?

TD: We do. Probably our most known award is our Scott Barron's Safe Subcontractor of the Year Award, right now, and this week I'm going to be presenting the award here in Arizona. And next week I'll be presenting the award there in California. But we take - so our field managers vote on the safe subcontractor of the year, and we're presenting the award for the year 2020 but they vote on the safe subcontracting and they look at their record while they were on the job site. They look at was the subcontractor willing to discuss and come up with different ways to do safety on a job? Was the subcontractor a willing participant in all meetings and all stand downs? And again, what was their safe record on our job site. But again coming to the table with discussion on how they can do their job safer, willing to obey anything that is identified and brought to their attention. But we present that award to them. And typically when it's not COVID we make a big deal out of it. We usually do like a dinner banquet, do raffle drawings. We get the whole team in that region involved, and we present the company with an award of a plaque for them to keep, and we also offer them and provide them with $1,000 check that they can provide to the charity of their choice. From Ryan Companies for being the Safe Subcontractor of the Year award. So yes, I mean, that's our biggest one. We'll do onsite barbecues and we'll feed teams and we'll provide T-shirts and clothing and again, anything we can to recognize and sometimes food is the most successful and we do that quite a bit. But I'd be remiss if I didn't point out the Scott Bear and Safe Subcontractor of the Year Award because that is our biggest deal at Ryan Companies.

AW: That is so cool, and I just from listening to you talk about all the options there for subcontractors, that would really - if I was an owner of a subcontracting company, I would be ready to earn your guys’ nomination for that award. It sounds so amazing and ultimately, it would help all of my employees stay very safe. So that's the goal, right? So I love that. That's so awesome. So if subcontractors have questions about the safety protocols of Ryan Companies, who should they reach out to?

TD: So any job subcontractors are encouraged to reach out to their lead superintendents. So at Ryan Companies, because safety is a value for us. It's a value for everybody, whether you're in the office or on the job. So because our lead superintendents, assistant superintendents, our first line out there, we recommend that subcontractors go to these individuals because again, their immediate access and these field managers, again, their top value is always safety. Our motto is head on, swivel. Everybody that's out in the field, their head needs to be on a swivel. Looking for safety items takes no time out of your day. If you're out looking at dailies, if you're out looking at progress, if you're looking at quality, it takes no time out of your day to also be aware of safety when you're out on your walk. So these individuals are the top notch ones that know what's going on on their project. So go to them first. I am definitely there as a resource as the regional safety director. And then our corporate safety director, John Giardini, is the top for that. We also at Ryan Companies because of our growth, we have hired industrial safety coordinators. So now we have two industrial safety coordinators that travel the nation with us just to focus on these larger box style jobs and communicate safety and again, just be another resource to those field managers. So first line is I'd point you in the direction of your field manager. They should be well prepared to assist you.

AW: Awesome. That's great advice. So thank you for that. Is there anything else that you would like to tell our listeners regarding safety for Ryan Companies?

TD: You know, so one of the things and I don't know what the question was specifically asked but the consequences that Ryan Companies could receive if they have a subcontractor get a violation on one of our job sites. So OSHA operates under what they call the multiemployer policy so OSHA compliance comes to your project, and they see a serious safety violation. They can ultimately issue a citation and a penalty to four different entities for that one issue, who created the hazard? So the creating contractor is going to get a citation and a penalty. Who had employees exposed to that hazard? They're going to get a citation and a penalty. Is there a contractor that could have corrected the violation but didn't? They are going to also receive citation and penalty. And then last but not least, the controlling contractor we Ryan are the controlling contractor on our projects and we run the risk of receiving a citation and a monetary penalty. The problem with that is once we receive a citation and a penalty, we're now put on a watch list by another platform known as Aveta that we have to report to, that is used by one of our largest clients. If we at Ryan have a citation or if we receive a citation and a penalty because one of our subs created a hazard and received a citation and penalty for it, we could now possibly lose work with our largest client because of that one citation. And again, it can be major, it can be minor. But the fact that we have an OSHA history and we run the risk of losing our largest client, so even more reason why we put so much emphasis on safety, again, the worker on our project is like I tell people, our number one priority every individual that crosses through the front gate of our property is our priority. Our second priority is to maintain a clean history so that we can continue to again build those stories, build those relationships, employ these subcontractors to continue to employ these employees. That's huge to us. So, yeah, I just wanted to kind of pull that into to also emphasize my safety is so important for us.

AW: Well, thank you so much for sharing that. I think for our listeners, that's helpful for them to understand the impact that their actions have on the general contractor as well. Everyone, like you said from the beginning, everyone is a team and it's so important for everybody to work together and focus on being safe regardless of where you are in the project and what your role is in the project. Well, Tony, thank you so much for joining me and for letting us get to know a little bit more about you and Ryan Companies with regard to your safety protocol.

TD: Thank you for reaching out and offering us this opportunity.

AW: Thank you for tuning into this episode of the Getting to Know Your General Contractor Safety Protocol Series brought to you by StudioOne™, our Safety and Risk Management Network. Remember, you win when you're safe.