I was reading an article in the Wall Street Journal about how Jim Harbaugh has a gift for rebuilding faltering football teams. He recently won the college championship with Michigan, which had a 2-4 record in the Big 10 just three years earlier.

His secret: taking his teams back to the basics. Teaching the O-line how to get in a three-point stance, teaching how to block, how to tackle. Things the players should know by now, but he’s not taking anything for granted.

I figured if going back to basics works for him, it should work for me.

2024 is my year of taking my company “back to the basics.” No, I’m not trying to revive a faltering team, but I know that there is always room for improvement.

What does going back to the basics mean for an onsite company?

Basics: Safety

Safety is, and has always been No. 1, and there is no No. 2 (OK, there is, or we wouldn’t be in business). Safety does not mean lip service. It means every co-worker, no matter how new, has the right and ability to stop an entire crew in their tracks if the team member senses something could be done safer. It’s just how it is, and every teammate signs his name on the dotted line to that. Back to basics, in a recent safety meeting (you know, the ones you have every month), I reminded everyone of that signature and what it means.

I am just now bringing on a new hire. He left his previous employer due to lack of safety. That was our new teammate’s exact words, “I left my previous employer due to lack of safety.” Wow. Something we do in the course of a normal business day brings a new, well-qualified, licensed and experienced team member to our doorstep, because another local company does not practice a safe work environment. Please let that sink in. I was actually quite shocked at a few of the examples of unsafe practices he gave.  

Takeaway: Circle of safety

Any time our vehicles (any vehicle) parks for any length of time, an orange cone is placed behind the vehicle. This means even if a guy stops at the gas station to get a coffee, a cone goes out behind his pickup — every time our vehicles are in park. Is this so your vehicle doesn’t get hit? No, it’s so the driver has to walk around the vehicle and see behind the vehicle before they leave. 

When one of your trucks is parked in a potential customer's driveway, kids and pets are drawn to the vehicle just naturally. Always look behind and under a parked vehicle before you resume travel from a parked state. I have preached this for a long time. A few years ago, I pulled into a driveway and the customer and I walked around the house to look in the backyard for just a few minutes. When we came back around to the front, his dog was peeking out from around my truck tire. The customer was shocked, he didn't know his dog was even outside. We lucked out, we saw the dog while it was still safe. Practice this Circle of Safety — children and animals are drawn to your trucks.

Takeaway: Most important safety task

The pre-trip inspection is another basic safety component that should never be overlooked. Do not allow any employee to "mail in" their pre-trip inspection. If there is one thing you should stand and personally supervise, watch your team's pre-trip inspections; make sure they are thorough and do not miss anything. These should never be rushed. This could be the most important thing your employee does in a day.

Basics: Communication

We all need to work on our communication skills. But in business it’s multiplied. Drivers have to communicate better with the mechanic. The crews have to do a better job completing pre-dig checklists and post-job as-builts and system install reports and turn them in with timecards. The office has to do a better job of keeping the customers apprised of schedules and what to expect with the finished job so there aren’t any misunderstandings. Employees need to communicate inventory needs before we are out of a fitting, not after.

We will be following up with communication at each monthly safety meeting to make sure everyone improves communication at every level, and it starts at the top.

Basics: Installation tip

We do a lot of troubleshooting and repairs. We are finding a lot of effluent filters leaning so far forward in the septic tank that you can’t pull the filter out of the housing. Obviously the outlet pipe settled — that much is known. Most likely someone didn’t backfill the entire outlet side of the excavation with #1 washed stone to 1 foot above the pipe, right? Yes, in a few cases. But what we are finding is a pattern of the outlet pipes having a 90 ell fitting before the pipe gets onto solid ground. In our state you previously had to use cast iron from the outlet and inlet of the tank 3 feet onto solid ground to prevent settling. The requirement of cast iron is thankfully no longer in place, but the schedule 40 should still get 3 feet onto solid ground (i.e. beyond the tank overdig) prior to a change in direction to minimize the potential for settling. 

Getting back to basics means going back and checking the little things. The important things. The things that are so common you take for granted and assume your crews are following up on. Complacency and assuming will mean expensive callbacks, misunderstood directions and possibly even injuries. 

This is merely the tip of the iceberg. Join me in going back to basics and solidifying our teams’ chances for success and a safe return home.

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About the author
Todd Stair is vice president of Herr Construction, Inc., with 34 years’ experience designing, installing, repairing, replacing and evaluating septic and mound systems in southeast Wisconsin. He is the author of The Book on Septics and Mounds and a former president of the Wisconsin Onsite Water Recycling Association.