Developing a safety culture enhances business performance

It was 1985. We were setting the steel for a deep caisson foundation for a large transmission pole on the edge of a major (dry) river bank and the foreman was a wreck. The crane was undersized. The ground was unstable. The 60-foot rebar cage was being threaded into the cased excavation displacing small amounts of bentonite slurry that further compromised the job site. To this day, I remember the look of anxious fear on the foreman's face as he called the owner of the contracting company for help. Fortunately, that day, cooler heads prevailed and the foundation was poured with no incident.