CASE STUDY:  The Davis H. Elliot SIF Prevention Story

Zero Fatalities, $5 Million Saved: The Power of Proactive Safety Measures

Despite years of rigorous safety protocols and declining recordable incident rates, Davis H. Elliot faced serious injuries and fatalities that continued to haunt the company. The question wasn’t about reducing minor injuries—it was about preventing the life-altering events that were too common. This issue could no longer be ignored.

Background

Davis H. Elliot, an employee-owned company, has over 3,000 employees, and generates over half a billion in revenue. Operating across 14 locations and serving 21 states, the company engages in high-risk activities including the construction and maintenance of high-voltage transmission and distribution lines. Davis H. Elliot is committed to fostering a strong safety culture and continuously improving safety practices. Five years ago, the company partnered with Krause Bell Group after hearing a presentation about Tom Krause and Kristen Bell’s book “7 Insights into Safety Leadership.”

The Challenge

Davis H. Elliot had made progress in reducing overall recordable incident rates, which dropped from a high of 14 in 2001 to an average of 1 for several years. However, beneath these promising statistics lay a disturbing truth:  while smaller injuries were declining, the company was still experiencing serious injuries and fatalities.

Between 2001 and 2018, Davis H. Elliot recorded multiple severe injuries and, on average, suffered a fatality every 16 to 18 months and a life-altering injury every 12 months. They attempted to address this through rigorous training, detailed safety procedures, and continuous incident investigations. Despite these measures, catastrophic events persisted, presenting the company’s leadership with a serious question: Why were serious injuries and fatalities not declining at the same rate as less severe incidents?

It was clear that a new approach was necessary—one that would address the root causes of these life-altering events. The company needed a better Serious Injury and Fatality (SIF) prevention strategy to identify and mitigate the highest risks, ensuring every employee returned home safely. This led them to partner with Krause Bell Group, who offered a proven approach to breaking this dangerous cycle.

Krause Bell Group Approach

Krause Bell Group’s partnership with Davis H. Elliot transformed the company’s safety culture by focusing on the most dangerous risks.

1. Apply the New SIF Paradigm: Treating Injuries Based on Risk Potential

Krause Bell Group introduced a paradigm shift at Davis H. Elliot by challenging the traditional safety triangle, which assumes that reducing minor injuries will automatically lead to fewer serious injuries and fatalities. Instead, they applied the new Serious Injury and Fatality (SIF) paradigm, recognizing that not all injuries carry the same risk. By analyzing ten years of Davis H. Elliot’s accident data, the team distinguished between minor incidents and the 21% with more serious SIF potential, developing a tailored SIF definition specific to the company’s high-risk tasks. This approach allowed Davis H. Elliot to prioritize its resources and efforts to prevent the most dangerous outcomes.

2. Create Sustainable Safety Processes

Beyond redefining how risks were assessed, Krause Bell Group’s engagement with Davis H. Elliot involved building sustainable safety processes that the company could maintain independently. Key to this was the creation of essential tools tailored to Davis H. Elliot’s operations, including electronic resources, safety messages, and job site audits. These tools were integrated into the daily routines of the workforce, ensuring that SIF prevention was embedded in every aspect of their operations. The team also implemented a cascading training program, starting with leadership and extending to field workers, ensuring that every level of the organization understood and applied these new safety protocols effectively.

“When operations took ownership of not only learning about SIF themselves but then learning it well enough to be able to teach it… that’s when we started to see the real impact.”

– David Libby, Krause Bell Group

3. Ensure Ongoing Learning and Improvement

Krause Bell Group helped Davis H. Elliot implement bi-weekly SIF learning calls and monthly accountability sessions to sustain momentum and drive continuous improvement, creating a non-punitive environment focused on learning and prevention. Regional SIF teams and regular governance meetings with senior leaders were also established to address local risks, share best practices, and ensure that SIF prevention remained a top priority across the organization.

Results

The impact of this comprehensive approach has been profound:

• Zero serious injuries for three and a half years.
• No fatalities for six years.
• $5 million in annual savings on claims costs alone.
• Recent experience rating changed reduced insurance premium by nearly $1MM.
• Enhanced involvement in SIF prevention across the organization.
• Significant company growth and increased profitability.
• Several Elliot customers meeting to learn what has been done to improve results.

“$5 million in annual savings is great but, the really important thing—we haven’t had a life-ending, life-altering, life-threatening event for over three years, and I believe that’s the thing we can celebrate the most.”

– Don Adkins, Davis H. Elliot