Safety is the top priority at construction firm Ryan Companies as its field workers and subcontractors face serious risks every hour they’re on the job.
Ryan Companies’ safety training is built on carefully documented processes and procedures and exceeds OSHA standards. The organization uses multiple training methods to ensure all employees understand industry standards, recognize dangerous conditions, and apply Ryan’s safety practices.
Program Details
Employees must meet the following OSHA Certification requirements:
- Field and construction team members must hold a valid OSHA 10 certification (within the past five years) or complete it within their first year; expired certifications must be retaken.
- Job site supervisors (senior superintendents and superintendents) must complete OSHA 30, plus an OSHA 10 refresher every five years.
- Certifications (30 to 40 hours) may be completed via self-paced or in-person sessions, offering flexibility for schedules and learning preferences.
Ryan’s learning management system (LMS) tracks completions, expiration dates, training duration, and photos of certification cards, ensuring all certifications remain current and verifiable.
New employees are paired with mentors for their first 90 days and wear hard-hat stickers signaling they need extra safety support, creating accountability and early engagement. Mentors provide personalized feedback and project-specific training.
Safety is embedded in work routines, including weekly job site inspections, mandatory monthly “all job” meetings, weekly foremen’s meetings, monthly Field Manager Safety Meetings, and additional quarterly meetings. Daily Safety Questions delivered via ClickSafety provide optional, gamified microlearning to reinforce knowledge, with 372 employees participating in 2024. These short, gamified quizzes reinforce key safety concepts through repetition and memory testing.
These frequent touchpoints ensure safety remains an ongoing conversation, reinforced by real-life examples, new regulations, and continuous practice.
Ryan also modernized its Asbestos Awareness course, converting a two-hour classroom or video session into a self-paced eLearning module. In 2024, this resulted in a 97 percent completion rate for Asbestos Awareness training and 137 First Aid/CPR recertifications, ensuring critical compliance across the workforce.
Ryan requires recertification every few years. The company also offers extra training on high-risk topics, targeted refresher courses, and training on new hazards.
Results
Ryan Companies team members worked nearly 3.6 million hours with zero lost-time injuries.
The organization lowered its Experience Modification Rate (EMR) from 0.56 in 2022 to 0.47 in 2024, a new record for the company and below the industry average of 1.0. Ryan’s Total Recordable Incident Rate (TRIR) was 1.01 in 2024, significantly lower than the industry average of 2.4.
