From the Staffing Experts

ResponsAble Safety Staffing From the Staffing Experts blog archives.

What is the Benefit of Working with ResponsAble?

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working with responsable

If you’re considering solutions for staffing your sites and jobs, you may be thinking to yourself – why would I hire ResponsAble? It’s a valid question. We’d love to tell you some of the perks and benefits of being our partner, as well as some secrets behind our process.

We’re driven by value. ResponsAble is a sincere company. We truly want to be valuable to our customers. We know that what we do isn’t needed by everyone, but we’re the best option for those who do. We want you to know that we’re here to create value for those who have a need for safety personnel.

We take what we do very seriously. We’re in this business because we believe safety matters. It’s the livelihood of real people. We also know the only way to develop a valuable business relationship is to do good work. We want to provide the best match for every job. As an additional service, we also want to be a resource for our clients in whatever their safety needs may be. We’ve built a team that takes both seriously.

We can accommodate your needs. We work with a variety of customers in different work environments. This allows us to keep our employees consistently working and allows them to bring more experience to your jobsite. As they work, they gain more and more exposure and opportunity to grow their safety tool belt.  You can discuss specific needs you have and we’ll supply the perfect person for the job.

We do both temp and direct hiring. Whatever your safety staffing need, we are equipped to handle it. Keep all of your business under one partnership. If you don’t have the internal personnel to cover your safety needs, we can supply ongoing support or on a project-to-project basis.

We keep it simple for you. We assign a ResponsAble Project Manager to every project. Their job is to assist you with the staffing needs, support you in managing safety compliance, and help recruit, vet and staff as your needs change! That’s right, we do all of this for you so that you can focus on your project.

ResponsAble helps you find the right people with the necessary skills to effectively and safely complete the job. Big or small, temporary or permanent. ResponsAble has the ability to truly customize our approach. We have the ability to staff experienced Safety Professionals and Managers, Confined Space/Hole Watch Attendants, and Industrial Laborers. Get in touch and let’s talk about how ResponsAble may be a benefit to you. 

Safety Staff are Essential | A COVID-19 Update

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essential safety staff

As the medical community and civic leaders urge only essential personnel to work, you should ask, who are essential employees? 

Safety professionals are high on the list.

Industrial companies and their suppliers are essential businesses and have remained in operation since the outbreak of the Coronavirus.  Due to the stay-at-home order issued by the Governor, most currently scheduled turnarounds have been pushed out to later this year. The disruption of the Coronavirus has brought new and unexpected needs to the businesses we serve.  Being up for the challenge, ResponsAble has been a source of essential staffing for our clients:

It’s important that we keep our distance from people, but not from safety.  An unintended, costly violation can make the current challenging situation worse, threaten the safety of your workers, and negatively affect the reputation that you’ve worked so hard to build. Here are three ways ResponsAble helps you hire qualified, capable staff: 

  1. We’re a part of your industry so we understand the regulations that you’re responsible for maintaining.
  2. We handle all the details (hiring, training, payroll, support and liability) so you can stay busy ramping up for your next project. 
  3. On-demand safety staff. We know you need experienced safety professionals (and backups) that are just a call away when you need a position filled.

We take safety seriously.

Over the past several weeks, we have worked to meet the needs of a changing safety climate and needs. Here are some positions we’ve seen an increased need to recruit and supply:

essential safety staff

Health Screening Personnel

We’ve gained experience in supplying Health Screening Personnel over the past month, and now have the capability to supply Health Screening Technicians to your job sites.  Here’s how this position can help:

The Health Screening Technician may be responsible for assisting the Client with policies and procedures that promote a safe and healthy working environment.  May be capable of performing assignments of limited scope and complexity following the direction of an assigned Client supervisor. Health Screening Technicians can promote safety and health by performing temperature screening for personnel, completing CDC questionnaires based on CDC guidelines, and directing personnel for any advanced medical attention.  Health Screening Techs are also knowledgeable of CDC guidelines for Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and other applicable standards.

Industrial Laborers

We also have a database of Industrial Laborers available for your specific projects.  Industrial Laborers help prepare and maintain a site by cleaning, loading, unloading, and transferring of materials to where they may be needed on a work site. These workers have a valid Basic Orientation Plus and TWIC. Each laborer is screened to ensure a strong work ethic, strong mind and strong body.

essential safety staff

Permanent Positions

ResponsAble can source Direct Hire and Temp-To-Hire employees for our clients.

With our Direct Hire service, ResponsAble Safety Staffing agrees to recruitment services, through the provision of resumes for candidate evaluation, in support of our Client’s stated intent to locate, identify and potentially hire candidates as full-time employees. Contact us for more information, including pricing.

Our ResponsAble Temp-To-Hire services include contract employees whom are assigned to a ResponsAble Client with the negotiated intention of “temp-to-hire”. The temporary employee must work for a Client as a Contract Employee from ResponsAble Safety Staffing for a total of amount of consecutive verified hours before becoming eligible for hire by Client.  It is at our Client’s discretion to determine if and/or when they may choose to convert the Contract Employee once eligible for conversion. It is also at the Contract Employee’s discretion to negotiate the terms of their offer for hire by Client and acceptance or refusal of hire offer by Client.  Contact us for more information, including pricing.

We specialize in all the work and details that you don’t have time for when you need additional safety staff. Give us a call today for a free needs assessment to find solutions for safety measures such as health screenings of your workers before entering a jobsite, or simply recruiting qualified safety personnel. Let us know how we can help at (225) 753-1909 or John@rasafetystaffing.com.

Creating an Environment of Safety

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environment of safety

In the type of work you do, safety is no joke. The responsibility for your staff’s safety and wellbeing is a heavy load. Here are a few tips for creating a culture and rhythm of prioritizing safety in your workplace.

Include intensive safety training in the onboarding process. When you hire a new staff member, don’t skimp on the onboarding process. This training is critical to staff competency and efficiency. It also sets expectations and defines priorities for the work environment that you want to create.

Provide clear guidelines and checklists. Make sure your employees know what the safety protocols are and are equipped to follow them. 

Host monthly safety lunches. Provide lunch one day a month and have a project manager present relevant safety topics. Discuss topics that apply to current jobs or projects so that workplace safety is fresh. When you make it a priority to present information, your staff understand it as an important workplace consideration.

Post safety information in the workspace. Hang posters, reminders, and instructions around the workplace as visual reminders of safety considerations and information.

Orient staff on new equipment. When new tools and equipment are introduced, set aside time to go over instructions for use and safety considerations of the new equipment. Many suppliers will include safety information that can be easily shared with your staff as they begin use.

Lead by example. Your company’s leadership should prioritize safety as much as they desire the staff to. They should implement the same precaution and follow the set guidelines as are expected of all employees.

The liability is not worth the risk of safety. Promote an environment of safety in your workplace by creating intentional touchpoints and rhythms that communicate it as a priority to your staff. This investment will pay dividends over time.

Important Qualities in a Safety Staff Member

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safety staff member

Safety staffing is a niched industry with unique skills and experience to consider. If you’re an employer thinking of hiring through ResponsAble, here is a peek at the qualities we’re looking for when building our growing database of staff. We recruit year-round so that when the time comes, we’ve got an ongoing stream of talent equipped to handle any job that comes your way.

If you’re looking to apply to the ResponsAble team, here are some requirements for becoming a part of our task force. The following are characteristics that our staff pride themselves on. If it is a good fit, you’ll be onboarded and placed through ResponsAble so that you’re prepared for every job that comes your way.

Checklist of RA Safety Staff

  • Interested and available for contingent and project-based hiring.
  • Resourceful and solution-minded, not a roadblock.
  • Ready to hit the ground running after training.
  • Desiring to be in-the-field rather than behind a desk, willing to be available to other workers on the jobsite and support team members in safety needs.
  • Professional demeanor and behavior in the work environment.
  • Organized and prepared for job responsibilities at all times.
  • Leader by example and influence, not authority or position.
  • Experienced in safety work.
  • All staff must have completed:
    • a basic orientation from the Safety Council
    • the TWIC credential
    • a hard skills test based on the position they’ve applied for
    • a behavioral based soft-skills interview

Depending on the job applied for or requested, our staff also are prepared for jobs with these characteristics:

  • Heavy Industrial Labor positions.
  • Able to repeatedly lift and hold heavy weights.
  • Physically and emotionally prepared to work within confined spaces.
  • Understanding nature of the work will often include 10-12 hour shifts 5-7 days a week with exposure to natural elements of temperature and weather.
  • Willing to work night shifts.

The characteristic that sets ResponsAble staff apart is their dedication to represent and work toward safety compliance as a leader and employee. ResponsAble helps you find the right people with the necessary skills to effectively and safely complete the job. Big or small, temporary or permanent. Let’s get the job done. https://responsablestaffing.com/contact-us/

ResponsAble’s Hiring Process

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hiring process

Are you interested in becoming a staffer with ResponsAble? Want to be included in our database of desired workers and experience the consistency that working with our distinct agency can bring? We’re here to tell you where to start!

The RA process from start to finish

Apply

Apply online at ApplyForSafety.com! Each applicant must have a basic orientation from the safety council and TWIC credential to complete the application process. If you’ve got both of those, then go ahead and get started! Qualified applicants will be contacted by a member of the ResponsAble team to schedule an interview at our office.

The Interview

Once at our office each person must take and complete a hard skills test based on the type of position applied for (safety technician, CSA/FW, labor).  If you don’t pass the test the first time, then we’ll offer another date after 30 days where the applicant can come back to re-take the test.

Once the test is complete, we then do a face-to-face interview with each candidate to assess their soft skills using behavioral based questions (tell me about a time you had to stop a job, what was it for and how was it handled; tell me about a time you had to work with someone you didn’t particularly like, how did you encounter this and how did you handle it).

We also track types of work environment each candidate is experienced in (refinery, chemical, construction, nuclear, offshore, etc.) as well as specific facilities/companies they have experience with, along with any certification or education they may have.

Through our assessment of their hard skills and soft skills, we’re able to appropriately qualify a candidate’s true safety knowledge and capability outside of just “safety certifications”. This allows us to match the right candidate to the right job and customer every time.

Paperwork

Once a candidate is qualified and considered eligible for hire, we have the qualified candidate complete all new hire paperwork and begin the onboarding process.

The Database

ResponsAble maintains and manages an ever-growing database of qualified and experienced staff. Once an applicant’s paperwork is completed, they become a part of this incredible group. While we may not have an opportunity on their day of hire that best fits a staff member’s capability, the database ensures that when an opportunity we can place them quickly (we have a lot of opportunities where we’re the last to know and first to show).

We frequently contact eligible candidates within our database whom are not working. We look for opportunities to engage with them and maintain communication and interest/availability status. This is such an important part of our culture that we track/measure how many qualified candidates we engage with as a KPI.

Getting to Work

Once on opportunity is presented to an employee, they then go through the final steps of our onboarding process and job-specific training required by our client. After this step, it’s time to get started on your first job!

Ready to start the hiring process with ResponsAble? We love to talk with applicants and determine their best fit. You can start your application online at ApplyForSafety.com and get the process started!

Tips for Keeping Your Shipping & Receiving Center Running Safely

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shipping receiving safety

While OSHA does not have specific safety regulations for shipping and handling centers, there are many aspects of the safety procedures that apply to these staff. Any employee that is exposed to hazards or risks should be protected to the extent possible on the job site. Consider these employees as you create workplace procedures and protocols.

Some Common Threats

This type of work requires frequent lifting and moving of incoming and outgoing materials. Back and muscle injury is easily incurred.

Use of equipment such as dollies, forklifts or hand trucks are also common. Accidents can occur, particularly with potential injuries to appendages.

Stacked packages or out of reach materials also produce a falling object hazard.

Additionally, tools for cutting, packaging, and strapping materials also create risk to staff in shipping and receiving.

Shipping & Receiving Safety Tips

It may be time to add some additional regulations for you staff in your shipping centers and warehouses.

Here’s a checklist that may be a helpful start point or reference.

  1. Make sure the warehouse area is clean and free of clutter and unnecessary items.
  2. Always use necessary equipment for heavy, large or bulky materials.
  3. When using cutting tools, always cut away from yourself and others and make sure that tools are closed or covered when not in use.
  4. Be careful when stacking or storing materials at height. Ensure the base of the stack is stable by placing heavy items closest to the floor with lighter items on top.
  5. When loading trucks, make the heaviest point of the load forward on the truck axle for stability.
  6. Feel free to take two trips whenever necessary rather than piling a load too high.
  7. When in doubt, ask for help with materials and work with one or more people to get the job done.
  8. Be sure to position materials on shelving in a way that fall hazards are reduced – far enough back from the edge.

These tips are generalized considerations for many shipping & handling centers. However, to ensure the safety and well-being of your staff the manager should conduct a safety audit of your specific workspace. Pay attention to any special considerations and create policies to keep your team safe. For more safety tips like these, view other articles on the ResponsAble blog!