Although Safety Week is really every week here at Mid-States Concrete Industries, the nationally-recognized Construction Safety Week is May 5 to May 9 this year. And since safety is above all else at Mid-States Concrete, we recognize Safety Week by spotlighting our current safety team.
Hannah Martensen, Director of Safety and Human Resources
While Hannah is technically new to the safety team, she has been working with the safety team for more than five years managing workplace injuries, incident responses and corrective actions. As Safety and Human Resources are both focused on taking care of people, when the opportunity to lead both teams presented itself Hannah jumped right on board.
“Nothing is more important than our teammates going home to their families at the end of the day,” Hannah said. “When you look at the big picture, if we aren’t working safely, nothing across the company clicks in - it’s our foundation.”
Hannah is extremely proud of our OSHA SHARP status and the commitment at every level of our organization to keeping our team healthy and safe. In the coming months, she is excited to roll out KPA Flex - an online safety program that is going to bring us to a new level. It is a digital platform for tracking everything - near misses, incident investigations, audits, and safety training records.
Tracy Miller, Safety Manager
Tracy has been part of the Mid-States Concrete team for nearly 12 years. She started as an assistant for continuous improvement, which meant creating lots of processes. Safety was something she always followed and understood the importance of PPE, procedures, and protocols. And over time, through firsthand experience, she began to truly understand the “why” behind the rules.
“I saw one person’s actions could impact an entire team, and how a strong safety culture protects not just the individuals, but families and communities,” Tracy said. “My safety journey is ongoing, and I’m committed to growing, learning, and leading by example.”
Tracy thinks it is important for organizations like ours to have an environment where people feel empowered to raise concerns, where near misses are learning opportunities, and where everyone goes home safely, every day.
“Safety, to me, is more than a policy or checklist - it’s a mindset and responsibility to do the right thing when no one else is watching,” Tracy said.
Knowing it takes a team effort to achieve, Tracy is extremely proud to have the South Beloit plant OSHA SHARP certified. The plant first received the designation in 2017 and has held onto it every year since. She is excited to work toward getting our other plants OSHA SHARP certified, as well as to continue to look for innovative ways to improve processes and safety.
“I am most proud of the safety culture that has been created here,” Tracy said. “We are one team. Everyone looks out for each other.”
Jack MacDougall, Safety Specialist
Jack has been part of the Mid-States Concrete safety team for two years. He started with Mid-States as an intern, after “falling into safety” while still a student. As a student he wasn’t quite sure what he wanted to do, but after hearing some friends talk about their safety classes, he tried some classes himself. Feeling like it was something he could excel in, his safety career began.
“I knew when I first went into safety that I wanted to go somewhere that is very much in need of safety,” Jack said. “I knew I wanted to be more hands on rather than sitting at a desk and writing policies and procedures all day. Precast has its own niche of hazards and most of the things that we work with, whether that be sharp objects, chemicals, tens of thousands of pounds of concrete slabs, or equipment, make it a constant battle of trying to identify hazards before something happens. It forces us to be hands on and out on the production floor working with team members to find the best solutions for them.”
In his time with Mid-States, Jack is most proud of the fact that we have a team committed to keeping everyone safe. If someone brings up a potential hazard, the team is on it and talking to team members to come up with the best solution. Jack is proud that we are a team that works with team members and their concerns, rather than working just to stay compliant.
He also takes pride in being part of the recent OSHA SHARP renewal process, a designation that not many precast companies receive. He added the program shows our team members company-wide that we are committed to doing what we can to make sure they are equipped with everything they need.
“(OSHA is) willing to work with us because we have a great track record of correcting hazards as soon as possible,” Jack said.
