Lauren Concrete, headquartered in Austin, Texas, is the largest privately owned and operated ready mix concrete company in Central Texas. Their customer base is split between commercial and residential projects. After 38 years in business, Lauren Concrete has grown to 22 concrete plant locations, with 275 mixer trucks, 40 haul fleet trucks, and approximately 400 employees.

Creating and maintaining a safety culture is critical to providing a safe working environment for all employees and visitors to its facilities. A critical aspect of creating and maintaining a strong safety culture at Lauren Concrete has been its involvement with the Texas Occupational Safety and Health Consultation Program (OSHCON). Lauren Concrete's first Consultation visit with OSHCON was in 2013.

After each Consultation visit, Lauren Concrete addressed any hazards that were found and made sure that employees were provided safety training, appropriate tools for their jobs, and a safe working environment. Most employees are not at a Lauren Concrete facility for much of their day which creates challenges on many levels regarding safety training. Lauren Concrete has addressed this through multiple safety initiatives, including:

• Pushing daily safety messages to the electronic tablets in the trucks each morning.
• Discussing safety messages on the radios during that day.
• Conducting safety meetings with small safety teams on four different topics at least twice a month.
• Creating monthly safety newsletters and placing them in all trucks and distributing them electronically to all facilities.

Other company safety initiatives include:

• Conducting Safety Council monthly meetings in each region
• Conducting monthly safety inspections at all facilities.
• Distributing “Think Safety in the Moment” coins to all employees.
• Posting large signs at each exit of all its locations that say, "Your Family Needs You Home Tonight, Think Safety in the Moment."

"The expertise that is brought to the safety table by the OSHCON representatives is second to none," said Kurt Holman, Vice President of Safety and Environmental Affairs at Lauren Concrete. The results of the efforts to provide a safe working environment for all employees and visitors have been strong. In 2023, the company's Days Away, Restricted, and/or Transferred Rate (DART) and Total Recordable Case Rate (TRC) were far below the industry average.

Lauren Concrete achieved its first Safety and Health Achievement Recognition Program (SHARP) approval in 2017. As of 2024, 21 of its 22 plant locations had achieved SHARP status. SHARP acknowledges small and medium-sized businesses that have used OSHA On-Site Consultation Program services and operate exemplary workplace safety and health programs. Small businesses that achieve SHARP status receive a deferral from OSHA or the State Plan programmed inspections for the period that the SHARP designation is valid. Acceptance of a worksite into SHARP is an achievement that identifies the employer as a model for occupational safety and health among its business peers. Lauren Concrete is striving to achieve SHARP at all its plants.

Companies interested in SHARP can contact their local OSHA On-Site Consultation program to discuss details and schedule an onsite safety and health evaluation. OSHA On-Site Consultation Program offers no-cost and confidential occupational safety and health services to small and medium-sized businesses in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and several U.S. territories, with priority given to high-hazard worksites. Consultants from state agencies or universities work with employers to identify workplace hazards and how to fix them, provide advice for compliance with OSHA standards, train and educate workers, and assist in establishing and improving safety and health programs. On-Site Consultation services are separate from OSHA enforcement efforts. To locate the OSHA On-Site Consultation program nearest you, call 1-800-321-OSHA (6742) or visit www.osha.gov/consultation.