Safety. Quality.
Efficiency.
The IRWIN'S ADVANTAGE. 

 

“Delivering the highest standard of full-cycle safety services”

Improvement model (1)
WE ENSURE CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT
 
The IRWIN’S ADVANTAGE is a comprehensive client-driven methodology we deploy on every project. Our clients leverage our field-proven methods to achieve improved levels of site safety, quality, and efficiency, achieving new levels of operational excellence.

The IRWIN'S ADVANTAGE is the convergence of QUALITY, SAFETY and EFFICIENCY.

At Irwin’s our passion is our clients. As a mid-sized, versatile company serving a wide range of industries, we offer a solution-based approach catering to our clients’ unique organizational needs. We do so using proven professional strategies for managing project risk during planning, construction, maintenance, operations, and decommissioning. Our mission is to form partnerships, allowing our clients to leverage Irwin's safety expertise to create long-lasting industrial solutions that save money, keep workers safe, and ensure best organizational practices.

Since we work with clients in a wide range of industries, we understand that each of our customers has unique priorities, which are driven by strategies that are constantly evolving. In this environment, drastic change is difficult. This is why we look to build long-term relationships with our clients, allowing us to evolve together using a customized, value-added approach to generate optimal risk management solutions.

Industries We Serve:

Oil & Gas
Power Generation 
Mining & Metals 
Petrochemicals and Plastics
Education
First Nations
Forest Products
Industrial Construction
Industrial Manufacturing
Government
Transportation
 
Utilities
Food, Beverages and Cannabis
Retail Sales
Service Providers
Clean Energy
Commercial Construction
Insurance
Asset Management
Steel Production
Health Services
 
Have a Look at Our Projects Page
SAFETY
Your SAFTEY ADVANTAGE
SAFETY:

Our project teams focus on getting the job done. We train our workers to the highest standard, ensuring that the training they receive is relevant to the scope of work and jurisdiction we are undertaking. We have built a network of safety professionals with varying experience and skills to ensure that no matter what challenges our client are facing, they have a group to lean on. This is how we achieved zero lost-time incidents since our foundation in 2009. Today, Goal Zero is our focus on every project: ZERO incidents , ZERO injuries, and ZERO work stoppages. 

 

QUALITY
Your QUALITY ADVANTAGE
QUALITY:

Our experienced team has developed a quality process that is the foundation of our project management approach. Aligned with ISO 9001, it goes above and beyond the standard regulations, offering our clients a frictionless approach to Continuous Improvement. This Culture of Quality enables us to build client-focused risk management solutions that accelerate with technology, rather than fighting against it. Our Circular Hierarchy , depicted on this page, facilitates open communications between our clients, our staff, and our management, always focusing on delighting our consumer.

EFFICIENCY
Your EFFICIENCY ADVANTAGE
EFFICIENCY:

We truly believe that working safely also must imply working efficiently. We use our positioning on worksites to track data on overall project efficiency, using a program we call Industrial Analytics. This program offers us a unique insight to provide various data and Efficiency Evaluations to our clients. These tools have value independently, and can also work in harmony with other efficiency-gaining methods we possess, which include Service Integration, and Customized Training Initiatives.

The SAFETY ADVANTAGE

In simple terms, workplace safety matters the most because people’s lives are at stake. Workplace safety may not be a new issue, but despite advances in government regulations and worker awareness, it still has consequences for thousands of people every year.

For employers, workplace safety matters because when things on site go wrong, they are held responsible. Direct expenses associated with incidents may include WorkSafe BC fines, work stoppages, equipment expenses, and legal fees. But there are also indirect cost concerns. A workplace with poorly established standards of health and safety can suffer from a culture of concealment, reactive processes, high turnover and low employee engagement. Combined, these factors can develop a toxic workplace climate that negatively impacts productivity and profitability. 

Learn more about Irwin's Purpose here.

IRWIN'S does it Better: Goal Zero

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From small family businesses to multinationals, our commitment is to guide companies of any size through the safety processes and implement safety management systems that strive towards Goal Zero: zero lost-time incidents, zero work stoppages and zero injuries.

Our professionally trained workers strive to exceed federal and provincial safety standards at every level, and over the years our many partner companies, including ATCO, Enmax, and BC Hydro, have come to be viewed as top safety performers in their respective industries.

A Superior Safety Management System:

A safety management system is a detailed approach to safety designed for a specific workplace. Irwin’s takes a four-pronged approach to developing a superior safety management system:

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Prepare: Preparation is all about planning. This includes consulting, designing effective emergency response procedures, and calculating what safety personnel will be required on site. It also includes all the administrative aspects of the safety management system, including developing health and safety programs and safe work procedures.

Train: Training means hiring qualified safety personnel and ensuring that they are competent and certified to perform the job.

Execute: Execution means deploying those individuals as needed. It also means managing them appropriately to ensure that they are effective in their roles. (e.g. For safety watch, this means executing gas tests in a timely fashion and monitoring confined space entries. For rescue technicians, this means ensuring that they are always ready to respond to an incident). Execution also includes hazard assessments and meeting every safety needs on site, which can only be completed effectively if proper preparations have been made and the right personnel have been chosen. 

Improve: Our safety experts bring decades of safety experience to the table, however, every workplace has processes that can be improved. We are always looking for ways to work with partner companies to improve their safety management system, creating the best and the safest workplace.

Elite Safety Professionals:

Our network of top-notch safety professionals can handle all aspects of site safety: from pre-work assessments to emergency response. As a full-cycle, full-service safety provider, we offer a full suite of safety services for facilities at any stage of their development. While Irwin’s works with companies in a wide range of industries, we specialize in providing safety for oil & gas, mining, pulp & paper, chemical production, forestry, and power generation facilities, and can provide support throughout their entire life cycle.

Irwin’s offers a wide range of safety consulting services including risk assessments, safety planning, developing emergency response plans, corporate auditing, etc., and branching out into rescue professionals and emergency responders. 

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Our certified safety professionals include:

Canadian Registered Safety Professionals (CRSPs)

Certified Health and Safety Consultants (CHSCs)

Registered Occupational Hygienists (ROHs)

Certified Industrial Hygienists (CIHs)

National Construction Safety Officers (NCSOs)

First Aid Attendants

Emergency Medical Responders (EMRs)

Certified Auditors (COR, ISO)

And many more

Learn more about our Resource Methodology

A wide range of safety services:

Along with Safety Consulting, Irwin’s offers a wide range of specific safety services to complement any safety management system. These services include:

Light Equipment Rentals – fall protection gear, respirators, rescue kits, and more

Rope and Rescue – rescue operators trained to access hard-to-reach spaces

Labour – industrial cleaning, safety watch, etc.

Turnaround Services – combines other services into an all-encompassing safety solutions

Contact Us for More Information About our Services.

Why Workplace Safety Matters:

At the end of the day, Irwin’s Safety is all about making sure every single worker makes it safe home after every shift. It not only keeps them and their families happy, but it also saves employers valuable time and money. We help companies develop and execute better safety management systems that create better workplaces for all.

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The QUALITY ADVANTAGE

1. WHY DOES QUALITY MATTER?

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Eager to get its new cell phones on the market as quickly as possible, a manufacturer rushes through production without properly testing their devices. Within a few months, reports begin to surface about their new phones overheating and occasionally even exploding. Sales plummet.

At a turnaround, a welder eager to start his lunch-break completes his final morning job quickly and without reasonable care. Six months later, a critical failure due to metal fatigue forces the plant into an emergency shutdown.

Both examples share the same underlying problem – they both lack adequate quality control.

A Quality Deficiency:

In consumer-based industries, quality is easy to understand: it builds a brand, loyalty, and customer satisfaction. In these industries, investing in quality builds trusting relationships, fosters brand loyalty and creates brand ambassadors. A customer that raves about a high-quality product or service is far more valuable than a typical advertising campaign or a marketing tool.

Most industrial work happens far from the public eye so sometimes the importance of quality is not quite as self-evident. With few obvious customers to satisfy and a limited range of options, it’s easy to place a premium on getting work done as quickly and cheaply as possible and letting quality suffer.

However, like any business, industrial facilities render products and services, and in many ways, maintaining a high level of quality and integrity is even more important for major industry than in other market sectors.

If a cell phone breaks or a t-shirt from Gap develops a hole, it’s simply a question of scraping together a few bucks to buy a new product. But if a fall harness gives out or a maintenance failure forces a power plant to shut down, there can be human lives and hundreds of thousands of dollars at stake.

Companies that invest in quality are investing in themselves. This applies equally for a manufacturing operation, a sales company, or for an industrial operation.

An important and proven way to invest in quality is by investing in an ISO 9001 Quality Management System.

2. ISO 9001 QUALITY MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

ISO 9001 is a worldwide standardized quality management system that certifies organizations who meet quality standards and helps them meet government and industry regulations. Businesses across a wide variety of sectors have found that investing in an ISO 9001 QMS has helped streamline operations, quicken growth, and improve internal efficiency.

ISO 9001 outlines management responsibilities, resource management strategies, illustrates how to set quality expectations and how to implement processes that measure quality. An effective ISO 9001 quality management system sets out quality assurance goals and ensures the right personnel and mechanisms are in place to perform effective quality control.

Quality Assurance:

Quality Assurance means setting a quality standard. In other words, it means quantifying quality. Quality Assurance also means hiring skilled workers, implementing good workplace processes, and using the best available materials.

In the industrial sector, QA includes hiring vendors that have successful track records, implementing chain-of-command systems and proper documentation processes, and investing in equipment that works properly and is suited to the task at hand.

Long-term, QA means investing in sustainable solutions to make projects run smoother and draw the very best work from employees and contractors. Additionally, it means investing in planning and preparation. Most importantly, however, it means investing in people. Better personnel lead to better planning and ultimately, more projects completed with higher rates of success, and not surprisingly, higher rates of return on investment.

Quality Control:

Quality control means enforcing a quality standard. Moreover, it’s about measuring quality. Quality Control means conducting product tests, tracking work, compiling statistics and performing regular workplace inspections.

On industrial sites, QC includes performing regular workmanship inspections, ensuring chain-of-command systems are functioning properly, and always using clear communication to ensure optimal results.

Every tool that an organization uses to measure quality is a component of quality control – from daily checklists to data logging to site audits.

3. THE IRWIN’S ADVANTAGE: A PROJECT MANAGEMENT APPROACH

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A commitment to quality begins with executive management, builds actionable momentum within middle management, and ultimately becomes best-practice and normal operations for all workers.

Once adopted, a quality approach needs to blanket all levels of your organization, and equally important, it needs to extend to your contractors. This can, sometimes, create conflict. For instance, if industrial work is contracted to a vendor that does not prioritize quality, then your on-site managers will struggle to hold work to an acceptable quality standard. Your project manager might complain about the shoddy workmanship of a welding job, only to receive pushback from the contractor who holds himself to the lower quality standard set by his supervisor. In this case, conflict arose because expectations around quality did not align at all levels of management.

To raise the quality standard, a company needs clear lines of communication, shared goals, and quality professionals to execute on plan. Your quality standards need to be understood, available and communicated to all contractors, be recognized and adopted.

At IRWIN'S, we developed a project management approach in-line with our continuous improvement model. It mirrors the ISO 9001 standard and clearly promotes and fosters a culture of quality.

Our project management approach builds around quality resources, features an open-ended circular operational hierarchy, and encourages innovation.

It is as follows:

1) Our resource department stands ready to address concerns, track data, and staff high-level quality professionals to perform both quality control and quality assurance on-site.

2) We restructured our operations management system as a circle rather than a top down structure. This stimulates communication and ensures quality feedback throughout our organization.

3) We provide a flexible, adaptive approach to working with clients. Our process values client feedback and by its very nature, encourages customized quality solutions.

Quality Resources:

An effective quality management system requires professionals who understand how to tangibly measure quality and evaluate quality goals. Irwin’s commitment to your organization gains strength from our own thriving internal culture of quality.

Our “culture of quality” is founded on extensive quality training. Our clients need to rely on our staff at all levels to exemplify quality in their daily activities. This allows us to more efficiently transfer customized and operational knowledge to our clients. Many safety organizations offer large-scale blanket training. In contrast, Irwin’s staff specializes in training that is client-specific so our client’s build their own “culture of quality”, not someone else’s or a generic version of quality.

IRWIN'S training model is unique in the industry. We take a recruitment and advancement approach which creates an ever-expanding network of safety professionals with unique skillsets, which include

RECRUIT: Qualified safety professionals find trainees pursuing a career in safety.

TRAIN: Qualified safety professionals offer classroom and practical training.

ORIENT: Trainees are run through simulations of on-the-job situations and brought to job sites to shadow qualified safety professionals.

MANAGE: Beginning work in their field, trainees are regularly evaluated by supervising qualified safety professionals who provide further training and mentoring as required.

EXECUTE: Trainees gain work experience and eventually become qualified safety professionals.

RECRUIT: In full circle, these new qualified safety professionals once again find new trainees pursuing a career in safety.

Learn more about our Resource Methodology here.

IRWIN'S qualified safety professionals deliver real-world facility experience through their instruction. They share their knowledge and provide strong mentorship for new workers. This in turn continually strengthens our internal culture of quality. Importantly, this process produces a team of subject matter experts with a vast array of quality control and quality assurance expertise.

Our experts have real-world facility experience and a fine tuned capacity to assess client-specific concerns. For example, the needs of a power plant may not match the needs of a lumber operation. So it takes a diverse and connected group of professionals to assess, plan, and execute the solution just right for you. Irwin’s team does this better!

On industrial sites, our quality control inspectors review work completed by contractors for poor and low quality workmanship, review workplace processes ensuring they are optimal, and constantly observe operations to assess if they may be violating laws or site regulations. At the same time, our quality assurance consultants record this information and work closely with upper management to improve workplace processes.

Our quality experts include:

Project Coordinators

Foremen

Industrial Hygienists

Confined Space Supervisors

Equipment Technicians

OH&S Officers

And Many Others!

Another key component of our resource department is our loss prevention program.

An Innovative Operational Hierarchy:

ADVANTAGE operational

We believe that supervision is important, however, we also know not every supervisor has expertise in all operational fields. Sometimes a person in a position of power needs to consult with an expert lower in the organization. As an example, if problems were encountered with two-way radios on-site, our finance manager may need to discuss repairs or replacements with our equipment manager. By orienting our hierarchy as a circle, rather than a direct line, we encourage these exchanges of information and they foster a team-based approach and optimize results.

This approach combines supervision with an internal feedback loop and helps us continually evolve with our clients towards better processes.

This structure places pressure equally along all lines of the chain – everyone shares responsibility for the success of the projects we work on. It is a balanced approach, and it works.

A Commitment to Innovation:

As mentioned already, a culture of quality and a circular hierarchy are both keys to success in quality management. What truly binds them together and at the same time encourages commitment to their success, is innovation. In many workplace environments work can become repetitive and unfortunately, inefficient habits can form. This applies to both individual workers and operationally. Processes linger long after their utility has expired because workers and supervisors are comfortable with what they know. These processes become “just the way we do it”. This common occurrence needs to be reviewed – this is where innovation shines.

At IRWIN'S, our commitment to innovation starts internally. We constantly perform quality assessments on our own performance and internal processes. We then bring our internal innovative approach to our client’s operations, ultimately improving their operational processes.

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There are four pillars to this innovative approach:

1. Design: Design encompasses all phases of pre-work planning. This includes hiring, training, and staffing, as well as preparing the worksite and setting specific goals and expectations.

2. Execute: Execution means completing the work to the standard set out in the design phase. Essentially, this means getting work done on-time and on-target.

3. Evaluate: Evaluation means reviewing processes in real time as the work is being executed. We ask questions like: Are certain tasks overstaffed or understaffed? Are there equipment shortages or other unexpected issues causing delays? And, why are they not accounted for in the design phase?

4. Modify: Modification means making the necessary changes to processes once the work is completed. If the job was held up by staff or equipment shortages, that means changing staffing and equipment expectations moving forward. Modification could also entail making larger-scale changes, such as implementing computers or updating machinery to improve efficiency.

Our commitment to innovation mirrors both the Continuous Improvement Model and the PDCA (Plan-Do-Check-Act) model laid out in the ISO 9001 standard. Each of these cycles demands a commitment to planning, review, and most importantly, a commitment to improvement. No process is perfect, and if processes aren’t improving, quality assessments need to be performed.

A Project Management Approach: A Success Story

To illustrate how IRWIN'S combines our quality resources, our innovative operational hierarchy and our commitment to innovation to create real-world solutions, consider this example of a pulp and paper mill we worked with:

Workers at the mill were not regularly cleaning up their workspaces at the end of their shifts, leaving wood shavings to clutter up the machines and create a potential fire hazard. IRWIN’S project leads documented this hazard (Quality resources) and brought it to the attention of the project manager (Operational Hierarchy). From there, IRWIN'S consultants worked with the contractor directly to strategize solutions (Commitment to Innovation). In this case, the solution was as simple as requiring the on-shift supervisor to leave the last fifteen minutes of each shift for cleanup.

Quality solutions don’t have to be complicated – in fact, sometimes the best solutions are overlooked because of their simplicity. In this case, Irwin’s helped the contractor change their processes to create a safer, more efficient worksite.

Why Quality Matters to IRWIN'S:

So why does quality matter so much to IRWIN'S?

When industrial clients come to us, they come with quality needs. Maybe they want to ensure that their standards follow government regulations – QA – or maybe they want to make sure that the workers are following those standards appropriately – QC. Maybe they are worried about cost allocation and want to investigate how certain processes can be improved to save them money. Whatever the quality need, the best way for us to service your company is by instilling a culture of quality. After all, quality is entirely about investing in yourself. Rest assured, Irwin’s has made that investment and that's why “IRWIN'S does it better!

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The EFFICIENCY ADVANTAGE

1. INDUSTRIAL EFFICIENCIES ARE THE CATALYST TO SUCCESS

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Industrial projects sometimes require investments of millions of dollars. As stakeholders, we all expect a predictable and reliable return on these investments. When our returns are less than our expectations, examining operating efficiencies is required. To start, assess your labour utilization rates.

Research reveals most industrial projects are burdened with tool time utilization rates on maintenance projects of approximately 80%. This means only 80% of paid labour goes to active workers leaving approximately 20% of an entire project’s labour budget a wasted expense.

The following is a simple example of industrial inefficiency:

During a power plant shutdown, a prime contractor has a $10 million labour budget. Their $10 million budget is spread out between hundred’s of subcontracted workers, each performing different tasks and each requiring separate authorization and coordination. Each subcontractor’s workspace requires inspection, and before work can commence, the appropriate Safety Watch is put in place and permits are authorized.

For simplicity’s sake, let’s say 1000 subcontractors on-site make $50/hr. and each gets two allotted 1-hour paid breaks per shift. In this example, these unsupervised contractors take liberty with their breaks. They leave 15 minutes early and come back 15 minutes late. Then, in addition, they take several 15-minute smoke breaks. Unfortunately, that’s an extra hour and a half break-time per shift that is not being accounted for.

Maybe one subcontractor being lax about their breaks doesn’t seem like a huge financial burden, but imagine if every subcontractor throughout the facility is doing the same thing? Multiply 1.5 wasted hours of labour by 1000 subcontractors, and the daily wasted labour cost quickly reaches $75,000. Multiply that figure by the 20 days it takes to complete the shutdown, and suddenly the prime contractor is suffering $1.5M in wages paid out that did not result in any completed work.

Idle Labour Cost

This idle time is a significant inefficiency. If each contractor spends fifteen minutes per shift waiting for permits to be approved, that’s an extra cost of $12,500 per day, or $250,000 for the entire shutdown. Furthermore, if Safety Watch wastes fifteen minutes per day of contractor time, that adds an additional $250,000 to the wasted expense total.

Total Wasted Labour Cost

Over the course of this single shutdown, $2M became wasted labour cost. The good news is Irwin's can address these inefficiencies. We have a long history of helping clients prevent these.

2. EFFICIENCY STRATEGIES

The scenario above is an example of low productivity. Workers were not pulling their weight, consequently, hundreds of thousands of dollars or more were being allocated inefficiently.

In order to resolve this inefficiency and maximize capital investment, the prime contractor in this scenario needs to deploy various strategies. They need to uncover cost savings, add value and ultimately, they increase productivity.

Finding Cost Savings:

Companies across a wide range of industries are familiar with discovering cost savings. Finding cost savings means evaluating all costs – both explicit and hidden – and finding ways to eliminate these unnecessary expenditures.

In the industrial sphere, a basic cost savings approach often includes strategies like: switching to vendors that offer a more affordable price point, cross-training employees to eliminate extraneous positions, and repairing out-of-date equipment on an as-required basis. It might also include re-assigning salaried workers to replace hourly workers and/or consolidating facilities to minimize expenditures. Unfortunately, these examples do not always result in the desired cost savings solution. It might be possible to hire fewer contractors, but that would probably slow work down and result in a longer, more expensive shutdown.

While cost savings are an important component of any successful business’s efficiency strategy, they are not necessarily the most important component. Cost savings solutions are solutions that work in the short term.

Cost savings are by nature reductive. A company focused on cost savings works within previously defined parameters and focuses on finding ways to eliminate frills. However, this reductive approach is not conducive to growth. If an otherwise profitable organization is losing money on one aspect of their business – say, one particular location or one particular product – a cost savings approach might demand cutting production or eliminating the location. But what if the company chose to double down?

Adding Value:

The key to a growth efficiency approach is in adding value. Value-added initiatives are about finding growth-positive solutions that work in the long run. Usually, this means finding areas for improvement and investing in that improvement.

In the industrial sphere, value-added initiatives may not save money implemented on a single project, however, they do improve value prospects for the business overall. An example of this would be investing in a brand-new computer system. Perhaps contractors on an industrial site are still using an archaic paper system to assign and track permits and by computerizing permit-tracking the company might discover they have an opportunity to eliminate large chunks of downtime. 

In order to realize those gains, the company might also need to invest in a comprehensive training program to ensure that all workers are on board and compliant with the new system. 

A Question of Productivity:

Ultimately, the key to adding value is in finding ways to improve productivity. In the example above, improving productivity means pushing contractors to work harder throughout their shifts, which might mean investing in supervision to keep them on-task. This is only one approach to maximizing productivity. Companies should constantly look for innovative solutions that add value through critical evaluation. This can be done by following these steps:

1)    Review Existing Workflow
Without a comprehensive understanding of the existing operational structure, it’s hard – maybe impossible – to implement wholesale changes to productivity that work effectively. The first step to improving efficiency is finding potential inefficiencies that can be improved upon. Key areas of focus are people, processes and equipment.

2)    Update Processes 
Once the workflow review is complete, it’s time to find improvements. This is where computerization or investing in new equipment might take place, as well as any number of other initiatives aimed at improving productivity.

3)    Commit to Maintenance
In the industrial sphere, maintenance is critical. Maintenance should be scheduled regularly and completed up to a standard that will hold until maintenance can be scheduled once again. No one wants an unexpected shutdown.

4)    Train Employees
One of the biggest inefficiency gaps is in employee training. If employees are adequately trained to do the job that is required of them, they will do it efficiently and effectively. If they struggle with certain aspects of the job – for example, if a senior worker struggles to adapt to new technology – it will inevitably lead to slowdowns and, ultimately, inefficiencies. It is important to invest in training initiatives that keep both inexperienced and veteran workers up to speed.

5)    Organize Workspace and Inventory
In order for work to commence, everything needs to be in place. On an industrial site, this means contractors and/or employees need to be in place, all equipment needs to be ready, as well as all approved permits, and of course, Safety Watch needs to be on-site too. An organized industrial workspace allows work to be completed efficiently and effectively with minimal wait time or down time. Additionally, with proper supervision to ensure efficient work practices, an organized work space also reduces idle time.

While these five points were initially tailored specifically towards manufacturing, each one of them equally applies to heavy industry. The key to ensuring efficiency on any worksite is to review and improve processes, to invest in maintenance, to offer training initiatives, and to keep workspaces organized and on-task.

THE IRWIN’S ADVANTAGE: A CONTINUOUS-IMPROVEMENT MODEL

ADVANTAGE improvement

IRWIN'S business model delivers much more than supplying you with Safety Watch and/or safety equipment. Unlike other safety companies, in addition to Safety Watch and equipment services we provide tools that help organizations plan smarter, save on costs, increase value, and ultimately, get more work done in the same amount of time. These efficiency tools include Service Integration, Efficiency Evaluations, the Industrial Analytics program, and Customized Training Initiatives.

At IRWIN'S, we believe in the continuous improvement  model. Essentially, we believe the longer you work with us the more efficient, safer, and better quality your projects will get. Short-term fixes and cheap vendors do not necessarily correspond with an efficiency-minded approach. We also understand that in large-scale industrial environments there is often too many regulations and moving parts to initiate drastic or abrupt change. Consequently, we work with our clients to develop a customized, value-added approach that builds long-term relationships, trust, and predictability and overall, fosters an environment of continual improvement.

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TOOLS OF EFFICIENCY

Service Integration:

Our service integration solutions combine flexibility, quick response, and cross-training in order to respond to client needs in a cost-effective manner. With strategically placed offices throughout Western Canada, we easily respond to remote job opportunities quickly and effectively. Our personalized approach will always adapt to your specific job site. As a non-union company, we can employ local front-line staff, minimizing transportation costs and offering amazingly quick turnaround times.

Importantly, our in-house staff are cross-trained in multiple disciplines allowing us to offer value-added skills like emergency response and rescue while keeping labour costs under control. Ultimately, this allows us to deliver a fair price for all industrial safety needs and moreover, to never sacrifice quality.

Efficiency Evaluations:

We offer efficiency evaluations as unbiased observers. In this capacity, our goal is to work directly with the senior management of a facility in a consulting capacity as we identify efficiency gaps and offer potential solutions. Our focus is entirely in line with our clients’ best interests – after all, if we identify areas for improvement on your projects that increase your return on investment, we know we will be back for your future projects too.

During past evaluations, we have discovered that a large number of cost overruns on industrial projects are incurred by companies that invest in planning, but lack the resources to supervise and monitor these plans once projects begin. For example, industrial companies that self-perform safety often overstaff safety personnel because they do not have a contingency plan in place and senior management does not have a background in safety. Irwin’s has the data to show our clients a more efficient approach to safety staffing.

Contact us for more information about efficiency evaluations.

Industrial Analytics:

We offer a key opportunity to maximize efficiency through our industrial analytics program. In the above example an inefficient worksite cost a prime contractor millions of dollars in wasted labour expense. Our industrial analytics program quantifies such losses. We have repurposed our government-required Safety Watch personnel as efficiency trackers, categorizing every minute spent by contractors on-site as either work time, idle time, downtime or wait time.

Type

Reason

Work time

Work ongoing as usual – no stoppage

Idle Time

No work – workers not working (i.e. cigarette break)

Wait Time

No work – safety maintenance (i.e. test for noxious gases)

Downtime

No work – facility issue (i.e. no work permit)

 

 

 

 

 

 

By measuring the amount of time on-site contractors actually spend working, our efficiency trackers help businesses immediately spot inefficiencies in worksite operations and make tactical plans to avoid work stoppages, potentially saving hundreds of thousands of dollars in future costs.

While such stoppages may never be completely eliminated, a better understanding of how and why this money is being wasted is a crucial first step towards a more efficient worksite.

Contact us for more information about the industrial analytics program.

Training Initiatives:

IRWIN'S collaborates with indigenous community organizations on private training initiatives. By working privately with community organizations, IRWIN'S transitions trainees into career opportunities, matching community needs with industry openings and injecting the workforce with skilled local workers. Localized training also keeps communities together as it stimulates area economies and helps to build a long-term, sustainable workforce. 

Our flexible, large-scale training approach accounts for the specific needs of trainees. It also equips them with necessary certifications to enter the industrial workforce and equally important, provides field experience that hiring businesses like to see. As a partner company, you can work directly with us to find workers to fulfill your specific needs. Additionally, we can fill your specific on-site needs by training your current employees.

Ultimately, we work toward matching uniquely skilled subcontractors with employer’s specific site requirements. As a plus, training through Irwin’s limits travel expenses and reduces overhead costs.

Contact us for more information about our training initiatives.

Industrial Efficiency Matters to IRWIN'S:

So, why does efficiency matter so much at IRWIN'S? Quite simply, at IRWIN'S we believe in saving money. Our goals are the same as your goals – if we save you money, you’re going to want to work with us again. We understand that the industrial environment is a complex environment, and although we always strive to identify simple solutions, complicated problems sometimes require complicated solutions. There is no one-size-fits-all approach to improving your business, but through our continuous-improvement model, we will help you work towards achieving all of your quality, safety, and efficiency needs.

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