Hard hats are a critical element to the construction industry, but to GE Johnson, they hold even more meaning. This family business takes pride in honoring its people and creating a workplace where every employee can safely grow. The Green Hard Hat Program is one example of how the construction company takes an industry standard and integrates it into the company culture.
At GE Johnson, instilling a personal responsibility for safety in its employees starts as soon as they do. This is especially important because employees in their first month on the job have more than three times the risk for a lost-time injury than workers who have been at their job for more than a year, according to research from the Toronto-based Institute for Work & Health.
The Green Hard Hat Program is assigned to all GE Johnson new hires, regardless of industry experience. They are required to wear green hard hats for the first six months of their employment and participate in training modules over the course of those first months. After six months, the employee will graduate from the program with a white or blue hard hat and after five years of service, employees are honored with a grey hard hat.
When tenured employees spot a green hard hat on their job site, it provides a clear message to have that person’s back and engage in extra conversations about their safety for the day. This is another great way for new office personnel to safely visit construction sites and fully understand the safety protocol GE Johnson expects every employee to follow.
Another benefit to this program is providing green hard hats to summer interns, clearly identifying them on a job site as someone to pay special attention to. These students get hands-on experience as project engineers when they intern at GE Johnson and their personal safety and safety knowledge always come first.
“The Green Hard Hat Program allows for quick identification of individuals who are new to the company and new to the project. While wearing the green hard hat, I felt welcomed to the project as individuals would take more time to be thorough in answering my questions and offer advice,” stated Alexis Buchalo, former intern, and current project engineer with GE Johnson.
