Articles
8 February 2012

Kapp Construction

by Linda Kennedy

08 February 2012—

Michelle Collins, safety director at Kapp Construction in Ogden, had already been in the mode of mitigating hazards for her employees when she received an invitation from the Ogden Chamber of Commerce to attend the 2006 Ready Your Business conference. “We have guys working in the ground all the time and that really worries me,” she says. “If we were to have an earthquake, that would probably affect us more than anything else.”   

Each day, Collins goes from job site to job site, ensuring that safety measures are followed and OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) standards are upheld. “I tell our employees that my job is to make sure they go home to their families every night,” she says.
But it was attending the Ready Your Business conference and workshop that now has Collins setting up home appliances at work, so that in case of an emergency, employees can continue working, while also being able to shower, cook and do other usual home activities in the Kapp Construction facility.
"I told myself that if something happened, I would stay home and not come to work until my mind was where it needed to be," says Collins, “But because of the type of work we do, we will probably be some of the first people that are called because we’ll need to help cities get their water back in service."
Collins told Gary Kapp, owner of Kapp Construction, that adding a generator to the large facility would allow a kitchen and showers to operate and care for their employees’ families during an emergency. Kapp liked the idea and preparations went forward. "I knew it could enable employees to go out and help others if we were taking care of their families."


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