Manson West’s Craft Leadership Committee Improves Field Safety
Manson West’s Craft Leadership Committee was created with a simple but important purpose: to give craft employees a stronger voice in the company’s safety culture. The committee began in 2025 as an effort to move beyond one-way communication between Manson West management and craft personnel, creating a space where employees could speak openly about what they were seeing in the field, what was working, and how work safety could improve.
The committee is craft-run by design, with volunteers from across Manson West (civil division) and West Coast Dredging, meeting monthly to discuss concerns, ideas, and experiences of those doing the work every day. The committee’s purpose: support peer-to-peer collaboration to develop realistic safety practices and policies that reduce unnecessary hazards.
“We represent Manson’s craft personnel, those who are closest to the work,” Yard Superintendent-Dredge Foreman Johnny Gregory explains. “We bring real-time field concerns to the committee.”
To foster open communication, the committee’s purpose is included at the top of each meeting agenda as a reminder of its role: encouraging dialogue, promoting safety, and ensuring craft employees have a voice. The meetings are not intended to be staff-led lectures. Instead, they are designed to serve as a dedicated space where craft employees can raise concerns, share field observations, and help shape practical solutions.
That distinction is central to the committee’s success. Craft employees are closest to the work, equipment, conditions, and day-to-day challenges that can affect safety and efficiency. Staff support the committee by scheduling meetings, preparing agendas, keeping notes, and helping guide the discussion. Most importantly, they help ensure ideas and concerns raised during meetings are shared with executive leadership, so action can be taken.
By listening directly to their concerns, Manson leaders can better understand what employees need to perform their work safely and effectively.
Many of the committee’s discussions focus on making safety more meaningful and relevant to the work being performed in the field. For example, craft members identified an opportunity to improve rigging training across Manson West. The committee discussed ways to make the training more consistent, compliant, and specific to the work while accounting for the wide range of experience among employees, from those newer to the field to those with deep expertise. Manson then worked with a third-party instructor and craft foremen to incorporate lessons learned from previous sessions and refine the training for future groups.
“Rigging training was well received by the craft,” Johnny says. “It was a great experience for newer craft and those with a lot of years under their belt to learn an important skill.”
The committee has also helped address more immediate needs. In one meeting, the craft raised concern about updated face shields for hard hats. Manson listened and worked with each of its business units to obtain face shields that worked. That type of action, whether it is a quick fix or part of a longer-term improvement, shows employees that their concerns are heard and taken seriously.
Ultimately, the Craft Leadership Committee strengthens the connection between the field and senior leadership. It gives craft employees a direct pathway to share concerns, identify barriers, and suggest improvements. Those conversations help Manson respond before small issues become larger challenges and build a stronger culture of trust, accountability, and continuous improvement.
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