Award Winning Safety: SWF Industrial Wins 2024 Excellence in Safety Award

At SWF Industrial, we prioritize safety over just about everything across all aspects of our operation. We are proud of our culture, and our ever improving safety ratings, which have resulted in winning the 2024 Dale Sabers Excellence in Safety Award. This recognition highlights our company’s dedication to maintaining the highest safety standards in the metal fabrication industry.

In the competitive field of custom metal fabrication and contract manufacturing, safety is not just a regulatory requirement but a cornerstone of operational excellence. Over the last forty years, we have aimed to forge the future by investing our time, resources, and talents to help people do their work in better and safer ways.

Manufacturing a Culture of Safety: Engagement & Transparency

SWF Industrial employs a comprehensive approach to safety, utilizing tools like STOPGO, 2-minute Personal Safety Audits, and Safety Observation Reports to create a proactive safety environment to mitigate risk and shield our team members from harm. These practices ensure that every employee is not only aware of the safety protocols but also actively involved in maintaining and enhancing them.

Safety as a Core Company Value: Proactive Safety Measures

At SWF Industrial, safety transcends routine practice; it is an integral pillar upon which our company culture is built. Under the leadership of CEO Brandon Stanchock and our Environmental & Safety Manager Dave Ney, our commitment to safety is deeply ingrained at every level of operations.

“Our approach to safety is proactive, not reactive. We believe in preventing incidents before they occur, not just responding to them,” Dave Ney explains.

The practices and metrics below not only highlight our commitment to safety but also foster a workplace where each team member actively participates in safety initiatives.

Industry-Specific Safety Metrics:

• Experience Modification Rate (EMR): SWF Industrial proudly maintains an EMR of 0.753, significantly lower than the industry average of 1.0, reflecting our superior management of workplace risks and worker compensation claims.
• Total Recordable Incident Rate (TCIR): In 2023, our TCIR stood at 4.5, demonstrating our effectiveness in preventing work-related injuries and illnesses across all projects.
• Days Away, Restricted or Transferred (DART): We achieved a DART rate of zero in 2023, indicating no lost time due to work-related injuries or illnesses, which is an exemplary standard in the metal fabrication industry.

Safety Training and Compliance: Each employee at SWF Industrial undergoes comprehensive safety training, including but not limited to OSHA 10-Hour and 30-Hour Courses, ensuring compliance and proficiency in the latest safety practices and regulations.

Our use of STOPGO, 2-minute Personal Safety Audits, and Safety Observation Reports (SOR) have been instrumental in cultivating an environment where safety concerns are openly discussed and immediately addressed. These tools allow us to maintain transparency in our safety operations and engage every employee in our continuous safety improvement processes.
“Our proactive safety measures have drastically reduced incidents and continuously improved our safety culture,” adds Dave Ney. “This commitment to safety is not just about meeting standards but exceeding them, ensuring that every SWF team member can perform their duties in the safest possible environment.”

Project Management, Customization, and Safety

We approach each project at SWF Industrial with rigorous safety oversight beginning during the planning phase and continuing all the way through to execution.

Our mature project management philosophy integrates risk assessments into the earliest stages of project planning, ensuring that every potential hazard is identified and mitigated. This integration is reflected in our mature project management philosophy, which prioritizes safety with an emphasis equal to our focus on quality and efficiency.

To highlight this emphasis on safety, during the constructability reviews, our team assesses all design and engineering plans for potential safety risks, adjusting project workflows to enhance safety compliance before the first weld or cut is made. This meticulous attention to detail ensures that safety is never compromised, maintaining our record of zero lost-time incidents in the last year.

Nurturing a Culture of Safety

To ensure a consistent focus on creating a culture of safety organization-wide, safety goals are clearly communicated across all levels of SWF Industrial through regular safety meetings, roundtable discussions, and through visible signage and directives. This open communication fosters an environment where safety initiatives are continuously improved and at the forefront of our culture.

SWF Industrial empowers its employees by involving them in safety discussions and decisions. This empowerment results in the implementation of innovative, proactive safety solutions that have significantly reduced incidents and enhanced overall workplace safety.

Client Satisfaction and Testimonials

SWF Industrial’s unwavering commitment to safety as a core company value has not only enhanced our operational excellence but also solidified our reputation as a leader in the metal fabrication industry.

Through meticulous attention to safety metrics and proactive safety practices, we ensure that our workplace is not only compliant but exemplary, setting the safety benchmark for the industry.
The case studies below highlight how SWF’s dedication to safety, their customers, and craft has forged the trust and satisfaction needed to build relationships that last.

• Case Study: Multi-National Bakery Expansion
• Case Study: Civil Infrastructure: WMATA Awnings
• Case Study: Food Processing Piping Skid

SWF Industrial – A Legacy of Safety and Excellence

With an eye toward the future, SWF Industrial is exploring technologies to further enhance our safety systems to allow for even quicker responses to potential safety hazards, and to set new industry standards for safety and operational efficiency.

Our ongoing efforts to improve and innovate our safety practices are driven by a clear vision for the future—a workplace where safety and excellence are inseparable.

Over the last 40 years, SWF Industrial has successfully partnered with our clients to bring hundreds of companies’ biggest dreams to life. Looking for a reliable and trusted metal fabrication partner? Contact our experienced team to start the conversation today.