Working in solar roofing requires strict attention to safety. The safety of our installers and employees play an important part in GAF Energy’s vision of energy from every roof. Our field services team is conscientious about the steps they take to assess and control safety risks.
Jared Vaught, head of the health and safety program at GAF Energy, said: “We recognize that some of the work within our industry can create potentially life-altering conditions, but tasks can be done safely when the risks are sufficiently controlled.” At GAF Energy, we want to engage and empower each other to consider the risks at play, and take responsibility for our personal safety. Jared and the services team support safe work practices through leading by example.
To empower the GAF Energy teams to continue working safely, each spring Jared and his team hold a safety engagement event across all of their field operations locations nationally.
This annual “Spring Safety Recharge” event allows GAF Energy teams to address safety-related risks as they transition between seasons; it also gives the opportunity for our services employees to personally refocus and recommit to working safely.
This annual recharge is important for the GAF Energy services team to strengthen its commitment to our core safety values: 1.) recognizing our core risks and how to sufficiently control them; 2.) being deliberate about enacting our safety practices to control risk; and 3.) empowering each other to recommit to another safe solar roofing season.
It’s critical to be deliberate and diligent in safety protocols—you cannot just hope for the best or rely on luck. According to Jared, the GAF Energy services team spends a significant amount of time at the Spring Safety Recharge event understanding safety risks and determining controls that either eliminate the risk entirely or reduce the potential outcome of an incident to be less than serious. The team trains competency, continuously monitors safety performance, and coaches best practices for what to do in ‘worse case’ scenarios.
The event then covered each core risk our teams can encounter, by individually addressing the risks and training for them, one by one. GAF Energy has safety risks within our business that must be controlled in order to prevent serious injury. It’s paramount that our employees recognize our core risks, such as working at heights, working in hot conditions, working with electricity, and operating vehicles and equipment, and then understand how to sufficiently control them. We have a commitment, from the top down and bottom up, that people are our most important resource; and we won’t compromise personnel safety for production nor profit.
Finally, the Spring Safety Recharge event allows GAF Energy employees to empower each other to recommit to another safe season in the sun. Our teams not only have the responsibility, but also the privilege, to gather at various points during the year to celebrate, focus, and recommit to working safely. We have high standards for each other, every day. It’s because of this comradeship that we are able to provide safe and sound solar roofs for our customers.
GAF Energy’s “Spring Safety Recharge” is the perfect opportunity to amplify its commitment to our core safety values of establishing safety protocols, understanding the primary risks and encouraging everyone to make safety a top priority. Energy from every roof is only possible when safety comes first.
Check out our previous blog post on solar roofing safety to learn more about GAF Energy efforts. Interested in joining the team? Visit our careers page to see open positions.