Berg Compliance Solutions Launches New Company to Help Small Texas General Contractors Manage OSHA Health & Safety Compliance & Risk

Berg Compliance Solutions Launches New Company to Help Small Texas General Contractors Manage OSHA Health & Safety Compliance & Risk

Based on Berg’s many years of experience helping small Texas construction companies, the company has recognized that small general contractors in particular face some of the most serious health & safety compliance challenges & risks in the construction industry, yet are often least equipped to manage them.

This realization has lead Berg to found Texas General Contractor Safety Consulting, with the mission of helping small Texas residential and commercial GCs protect their employees, subcontractors and businesses from harm through implementation of comprehensive health & safety compliance programs.

Services will be available at a fraction of the cost of hiring a qualified full time safety manager, and covers client projects throughout Texas and across the country.

AUSTIN, TEXAS—February 8th, 2024— Berg Compliance Solutions, experts in helping small manufacturing and construction companies ensure environmental, health and safety regulatory compliance, today announced that Texas General Contractor Safety Consulting has been launched to focus on small residential and commercial general contractors and help them address the many challenges they face when trying to manage health and safety compliance & risk.

Small General Contractors Are At Greatest Risk:

The majority of small Texas general contractors fail to properly manage and “effort” OSHA compliance at their projects, putting themselves at risk for major liabilities including serious injuries, fatalities, major fines & penalties, public embarrassment, wasted money, lost customers and potential civil and criminal liability.

These companies are at greatest risk due to a common lack of expertise, time and resources needed to keep up with these complex regulations at projects which are often scattered across wide geographic regions, built by subcontractors who normally give little thought or effort towards safety.

The risks are made worse by: 1) the fact that according to OSHA’s “Controlling Employer” mandate, general contractors have final responsibility for the health and safety of their projects (despite all of these challenges) and 2) the construction process creates some of the most dangerous and deadly health and safety hazards in any sector, including falls, “struck-by” and “caught in-between” hazards, electrocutions and many more.

To make matters worse, general contractors can, and often are, cited for subcontractor violations resulting in fines than can run into the $10s or even $100s of thousands of dollars.

“Our management team is focused on building top quality projects, and on time. This is obviously a big priority, but we’re also committed to our OSHA health & safety compliance program to protect our workers, subcontractors and the company. This creates a serious challenge because our superintendents and project managers simply don’t have the time, nor expertise, to manage both priorities on a routine basis,” said one anonymous Berg GC client.

Our New Cost Effective Solution:

Texas General Contractor Safety Consulting was created to address these challenges using our “safety partnership” consulting approach, called “GC Compliance.” The service combines our proven & predictable compliance process, routine inspections, training and ongoing on-site guidance from our team of safety experts.

Major benefits include the fact that our “GC Compliance” service helps clients manage all areas of OSHA compliance, is offered at a fraction of the cost of staffing a full time safety manager and covers client projects across Texas and across the country.

“Keeping up with these complex regulations can be overwhelming for a small general contractor, but the risks of failing to take action are too big to ignore,” “ said Russell Carr, President, Berg Compliance Solutions. “Many of these companies don’t have the budget to hire a full time, qualified safety manager. “GC Compliance” fills the gap & reduces risk.”

About Berg Compliance Solutions

Berg Compliance Solutions specializes in helping small manufacturing & construction businesses manage environmental, health and safety regulatory compliance and risk. Since 2013, Berg has helped businesses keep workplaces safe, minimize environmental impact and maintain compliance with OSHA, TCEQ & EPA regulatory compliance laws. Based in Austin, TX, Berg works with companies across Texas and the United States. For more information, visit bes-corp.com or txgcsafetyconsulting.com

Media Contacts

Russell Carr

President & Founder

Berg Compliance Solutions

Texas General Contractor Safety Consulting

rcarr@bes-corp.com

(512) 457-0374

By Russell Carr|2024-02-08T10:52:33-05:00February 7th, 2024|Good To Know|Comments Off

About the Author: Russell Carr

How A Sales Guy Transformed Into An Environmental, Health & Safety Expert & Advocate For Small Businesses I've spent my entire 30+ year career working within the manufacturing and “industrial services” sectors. The first 15 years of my career focused on sales of hazardous materials related products and services to the manufacturing sector, then for the last 16+ years transitioned into entrepreneurship, founding 3 small industrial services related contracting businesses. As you’ll see below, running these companies eventually lead me to found yet a 4th business, but more on that in a minute…. Here’s a brief description of the first 3 companies: Berg Environmental Services, Inc.: hazardous waste disposal & transportation services, founded in August of 2003 3rd party wind energy operations & maintenance services provider to utility scale wind farms throughout the US, founded in September 2007 3rd party oil & gas exploration & production services provider, founded in August of 2011 Each of these companies operated in extremely dangerous working conditions and exposed my employees to a wide range of serious health & safety hazards on a daily basis. To complicate matters, 2 of the companies also exposed the environment to significant potential harm. In other words, I learned very early the critical importance of managing environmental, health and safety issues so as to ensure the safety of our employees and the environment, as well as minimizing related risks. But I also learned how incredibly difficult and challenging this endeavor can be due to the wide range of complicated and continually changing environmental, health and safety rules and regulations that impacted the companies. To summarize the challenges: First I had to determine which regulations applied to each company, then I had to build compliance programs to meet those regulations, and finally I had to ensure that the programs were being managed and followed by our staff on a daily basis. All while trying to run and grow 3 profitable businesses…. It was overwhelming and I always struggled to keep up. To make matters worse, throughout this time I also witnessed the devastating price that companies, management and ownership can pay for failing to manage EHS compliance. This included seeing one of my hazardous waste management clients get sent to jail over environmental issues, another client’s management team threatened with jail time, a direct competitor get fined $378,000 by OSHA fine after an employee was nearly killed, and many others face major fines and penalties. Full disclosure, one of my companies got fined by OSHA at one point, & another was cited by TCEQ, so I know how it feels. In summary, I learned first hand how incredibly difficult it is for small companies to manage EHS compliance due to a common lack of the critical expertise, time and resources that are needed to keep up, and how this situation then ends up exposing them to these potentially catastrophic risks that can literally destroy lives and businesses. This later inspired me to found my 4th company, Berg Compliance Solutions in 2012, which is dedicated to helping other small businesses, and business owners, to manage EHS compliance and risk. Education BA, Philosophy, University of Colorado, Boulder, December, 1990. Summary of Professional Experience & Qualifications: 30+ years serving the manufacturing & industrial services sectors 30+ years of sales and marketing experience 16+ years as small business owner & entrepreneur: Founded and operated 4 small businesses since 2003. Environmental, Health & Safety Compliance & Program Related: 19 plus years of hazardous waste management including EPA, TCEQ & RCRA regulations 8 years of DOT/FMCSA compliance experience, including hazardous materials transportation 8 years of combined experience implementing and managing OSHA health and safety compliance programs for 2 high risk energy services businesses Successfully implemented and gained ISO 9001 Quality Management Certification and OHSAS 18001 (Occupational Health & Safety Advisory Service) Certification for wind energy maintenance business. Regulatory Enforcement Related Experience: Served as expert witness in criminal environmental compliance enforcement cases Superfund-CERCLA OSHA enforcement inspections, investigations and resolution in following industries: industrial services, manufacturing & construction. TCEQ enforcement inspections, investigations and resolution in manufacturing.