TEXTILES.ORG
Years ago, little attention was paid to jobsite safety within the tent rental industry. Rather than being given hard hats, safety vests, steel-toed shoes and safety straps, new hires would be handed a company-branded T-shirt and told to watch from the sidelines as tents were installed or removed, typically by employees who also were not wearing any safety equipment.
This on-the-job training, like the industry itself, was simply not safety focused. Today, safety training is a key facet of onboarding and continues throughout all phases of employment, as tent rental companies have since recognized the importance of keeping employees safe and secure in an ever-evolving industry.
Historically speaking
Kyle Richardson, chief executive officer for NJ Event Services LLC in Stockton, N.J., and operations manager at L&A Tent Rentals in Hamilton, N.J., has grown up in the industry and is a second-generation event professional. As Richardson explains, the days of wearing sneakers, gym shorts and no shirt while working with tent structures are over.
“I am very happy to see where we have come in my tenure in the industry, but I do feel the industry as a whole has a long way to go,” Richardson says. “It is disappointing to me to still see people not wearing hard hats when doing clearspan, not using harnesses in lifts, or even wearing sneakers on jobsites. Such little details could be the difference in saving someone’s life.”
Brandon Sayre, president of ACC Party Rental Inc. in Hilliard, Ohio, says that safety training for his company starts even before the onboarding process. During the interview process, they talk with each applicant about safety. “We feel this does a great job at starting the conversation and showing each new hire how much we value safety,” Sayre says. “During the onboarding, every new process and skill taught also contains a safety component.”
This is the first year ACC Party Rental has had a specific employee partially dedicated to training and safety. This employee reviews the company’s safety procedures and makes sure everyone is as safe as possible. From there, ACC Party Rental’s safety training is modified for current and new employees. “Even with this new employee role, safety is a team effort,” Sayre says. “It takes our whole team to keep each other accountable.”
According to Kevin Vasquez, chief technology officer at Made in the Shade Tent Rentals (MITS) in West Sacramento, Calif., when it comes to new-hire onboarding, his company has started putting employees through the industry’s Foundations of Safe Tenting course (found at: tent.textiles.org/FST) and having them pass that course to continue employment.
“Before that, we would usually pick a certain style tent and have the new/recent hire set it up with a lead and have the lead explain the install and takedown process,” Vasquez says. “This still takes place, just after a couple of onboarding trainings.”
MITS also hired a contracted safety consultant to keep the company up-to-date with compliance and provide a curriculum and topics that leadership discusses with crews monthly and weekly. “This has not always been the case; we have been audited in the past and had to come up with our safety culture on our own,” Vasquez says. “We made good progress, but it wasn’t until we brought a professional into our setting that we made big strides.”
Unique challenges
Due to the seasonal nature of the tent rental industry, there is a lot of turnover with new hires frequently coming onboard. As such, handling the safety component of new-hire onboarding is paramount.
Richardson typically only brings on up to three new hires a year, as his companies employ a seasonal workforce from overseas who come back every summer to join the company via work visas.
“For the new hires, we outfit them with proper PPE [personal protective equipment] the minute they enter the warehouse on day one. We review all safety protocols that are in place,” Richardson says. “When erecting a tent, I will have them sit on the sidelines for the first few minutes and just watch. This allows them to ask questions about what’s going on as well as allowing me to explain to them all the bad things that can happen. My goal is not to scare them, but I want all my staff to know that if something goes awry, serious injury can occur.”
Richardson says the hardest part is when safety slows down the process, especially as it relates to getting the crew to see the benefits of working slower to do something safely versus rushing to get it done. He frequently reminds employees that he would rather have them take five minutes longer to do it safely than rush to get it done and injure a team member.
“Finding the happy medium in the balance of safety and efficiency is the key to success,” Richardson says. “I may be naïve in saying this, but I truly believe our employees respect and like the fact that we genuinely care about their safety.”
ACC Party Rental’s biggest challenge for maintaining safety with its crews also is time versus safety management, as safety processes and procedures typically increase the amount of time projects take. “All our crews want to be as efficient as possible, and we are constantly exploring how to do that safely,” Sayre says. “Typically, we find the younger generation adapts more readily to following our safety procedures and processes. We’ve always attributed this to the younger generation not having all those unsafe habits ingrained in them throughout their years of working.”
Several years ago, the company had a close call when a tent hit an electrical line as employees were moving it. Fortunately, due to the various plastic elements of the center pole, no one was hurt. “This could easily have been deadly, though,” Sayre says. “After this event, we implemented a site evaluation checklist that all of our leads perform before work can begin at a jobsite.”
For the MITS team, complacency has been the biggest challenge. They start strong, but slowly let the crew get away with no earplugs, gloves etc. “When we start to notice a trend like this, we send out emails reminding the crew, and have a discussion with the leadership,” says Vasquez. “Accountability is another challenge. No one wants to get someone in trouble, but if you don’t speak up, someone could get seriously hurt.”
He, too, has found that the younger generation is more inclined to follow and respect safety procedures. “They are always impressed when safety is the top priority,” Vasquez says. “When it is someone from an older generation, they sometimes bring past bad habits that are hard to break.”
Ongoing efforts
Reviewing safety protocols throughout the year is vital. Since coming into a leadership role, Richardson has completely revamped the safety programs at NJ Event Services and L&A Tent Rentals. Team members now wear hard hats, safety vests and steel boots 100% of the time on jobsites. “We give every employee a PPE allowance to purchase their gear,” he explains. “We supply hard hats and vests.” The company also ensures seatbelts are utilized on machinery and keep all the operators’ certifications up to date.
“We try to have at least one ‘tailgate talk’ a month regarding safety, typically around something one of the managers saw in the previous month that could have been done better,” Richardson says. The company also holds a postseason wrap-up meeting with leads and managers to see if there is anything the team should try to do differently next year.
This year, the company “upgraded” and provided hard hats with a chin strap and visor. The crew feedback has been great, and Richardson is getting fewer complaints about hats falling off or being uncomfortable. “We also get as many stickers for hard hats as we can find,” Richardson says. “We hand out stickers based on tenure, which they wear like a badge of honor. We ask our suppliers for stickers, and we order some custom ones to give out based on skills. The crews love it.
“We’re also in the process of retrofitting them all with earmuff-style ear protection,” he continues. “We have noticed that if it’s readily available to them, they will use it. They’re not going to run back to the truck to grab some earplugs. So if we put them right on the hard hat, they can just flip them down and they’re ready to go.”
Richardson notes that using machinery has also helped the company reduce the number of back injuries, and complete jobs more quickly and in a safer manner. “For 90% of our clearspan installations, we are bringing a crane in. This stemmed solely off feedback from our crews,” he says. “All of them told me they felt safer and more comfortable using a crane to lift beams. If that’s what they want, I was willing to make the change.”
ACC Party Rental’s jobsites are where most of the company’s safety changes have taken place as well. “When it comes to erecting tents, we implemented safety zones and new equipment procedures,” Sayre says. “Even small changes have been made, such as having spotters when backing up any vehicle.”
All required PPE is provided for ACC Party Rental’s employees. For hard-toe shoes, the company reimburses the employees $100 per year toward the purchase. In addition, a portion of an employee’s yearly bonus is based on their individual safety record.
These efforts are evidence of ACC Party Rental’s prioritization of jobsite safety. “We want to see our team safe, healthy and going home to their families after every day on the job. As a bonus, many companies will find having the right safety procedures can be the right economic choice in the long run,” Sayre says. “Ask any owner who has had lost labor time from an accident or a worker’s compensation claim affect their company for years after an accident. Safety isn’t really an option in our industry; it’s a must.”
Maura Keller is a freelance writer based in Minneapolis, Minn.