Project Updates

Construction Updates Staying Safety Focused March 12, 2024

“Together, Eli Lilly and Company, Fluor and our contractors are committed to keeping our people and the community safe,” said Dennis Earman, Fluor’s Health, Safety and Environmental (HSE) director for the Lebanon Project. “Safety is built into everything we do from design and planning to programs and day-to-day operations. We work hard to create a strong safety culture.”

Worker safety

Every visitor, employee and subcontractor must attend a Health, Safety & Environmental orientation prior to visiting or working on the site, and HSE education continues throughout the year to ensure the proper implementation of LP1 safety standards. The LP1 project has one of the industry’s highest ratios of safety professionals and supervisors to craft employees. Together teams work to reinforce safety requirements and build patterns of smart safety behavior.

“Ensuring we have competent and qualified supervision is imperative to having a safe and successful project,” Earman said. “We strive to create a psychologically safe work environment built on trust between Fluor, Lilly and our trade partners and their craft employees. It is important that all employees on site feel comfortable and empowered to raise concerns. If someone sees any at-risk behavior or unsafe situation, they need to stop and ensure the situation is safe before moving forward.”

Along with training, regular site inspections identify and address any potential hazards. In case there should happen to be an incident, the team also has an emergency response plan that can be put into action. The response plan is reviewed and updated regularly. All unplanned incidents are investigated to uncover potential opportunities for learning. The LP1 project as a whole is a learning organization, with teams constantly improving by applying lessons learned from both unplanned events and action reviews of successful operations.

“Whatever we do, the safety of our employees, the community and the environment is our priority,” Earman said.

Beyond site boundaries

In addition to keeping people safe onsite, there are a number of ways the team is working to ensure the focus on safety extends outside work boundaries to the neighboring community.

Site security

Public access to the job site is restricted to help maintain the order of the site along with the safety of workers and the public. This ensures that only safety-trained professionals are onsite around equipment and in construction zones.

Perimeter fencing, lighting, barricades and clearly visible warning signs help identify work areas. Security personnel patrol the grounds and staff a designated site entrance requiring employees and contractors to use designated access-controlled gates to enter and exit. These steps ensure that no one enters construction areas without proper site knowledge and safety training.

Promoting safe travel

Throughout the past few months, internal routes for construction traffic have been established to reduce the need for workers and equipment to travel on local roads. There are now north and south parking lots for work teams.

As the number of employees onsite continues to grow, work shifts will be staggered to reduce traffic to and from the site. Several canteens operated by Boone County food and beverage professionals will be opened on the grounds in an effort to reduce employee traffic coming and going throughout the work day.

Communication is key

“Overall site safety requires good communication,” said Jeff Wagner, Fluor community relations and communications manager. “It’s important for us to communicate with immediate neighbors and the community regarding work being done around the site that may impact day-to-day travel.”

If community members “see something,” they are welcome to “say something” by contacting site personnel directly. To stay up to date, community members can opt in to designated email and text notification lists. A toll-free 800 number is available for questions.

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