Stop mixing messages. That is what a team of safety researchers urged Perini Building Co. to do during worker orientations last fall following an assessment of the CityCenter project and another Perini project nearby. The mixed-message advice was one of the most interesting aspects of the assessment. Although Perini seemed on the surface to have the best safety communication practices, the assessment team claimed that the message was compromised.
Perini’s direct messages seemed to reflect an enlightened attitude toward accident prevention and workplace management, such as protecting workers from reprisals or discipline if they go around their supervisors to complain about unsafe conditions. Everyone is respected and valued, Perini’s orientation staff told new recruits. But in practice Perini delivered another kind of message, according to the assessment report, carried out by a small team from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, a federal agency, and the Center to Protect Workers’ Rights, a union-funded advocate for worker safety. Some of the assessment’s findings were: