Nova Underground puts men in the road, in the trench, and next to energized utilities every day. Everything on this page exists so all of them go home in the same condition they showed up in.
| 1 | No job, no footage, no deadline, and no customer is worth an injury. Production targets are real and we hold people to them — but never at the cost of a step on this page. |
| 2 | Every employee has Stop Work Authority (§4). Anyone, at any level, can stop any task without needing permission and without consequence. |
| 3 | We do not discipline anyone for reporting an injury, a near-miss, a utility strike, or an unsafe condition. We discipline for hiding one. That is already written into NU-PPL-403 as a zero-tolerance offense. |
| 4 | Nobody works to a standard that isn't written down. If a rule isn't in a document, it isn't a rule yet — and that is a gap we fix, not a reason to point somebody. |
| 5 | We fund it. PPE, traffic control gear, trench protection, training, and certifications are company expense, not the employee's. |
Applies to every Nova employee, every temporary worker, and every subcontractor on a Nova work order, on every site, in every yard, and in every vehicle.
Where a client's program is stricter than Nova's — Congruex, Ansco, a GDOT project, a utility owner — the stricter rule wins. The Supervisor is responsible for knowing which rule is stricter before the crew rolls.
| Role | Owns |
|---|---|
| Owner (Adam) | Signs and annually reviews this program. Funds it. Makes the final call on any termination for a safety violation (NU-GOV-001). Designates the excavation competent person by name. Reviews every recordable incident personally. |
| Field Supervisor | The day-to-day safety authority. Runs the weekly toolbox talk. Verifies traffic control and trench protection at every site visit. Issues points under NU-PPL-403. Keeps the training matrix current. Investigates incidents under NU-SAF-121. |
| Crew Lead | Runs the JSA before ground break. Sets and verifies the work zone (NU-SAF-105). Confirms every man has the PPE and knows the day's hazards. Stops the crew when something changes. Signs the site off at close. |
| Operator / Driver / Locator / Laborer | Works to the cards. Inspects their own PPE and equipment. Reports anything broken, missing, or unsafe the same day. Uses Stop Work Authority. |
| Subcontractor | Meets or exceeds this program (NU-SAF-123). Provides their own written program, COI, and training records before mobilizing. |
| Requirement | Designated person | Qualified by | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Excavation / trenching competent person (OSHA 1926 Subpart P) | [NAME — Adam to designate] | Competent Person training cert | OPEN — required before next dig over 4 ft |
| Confined space entry supervisor | [NAME] | Confined space training | OPEN |
| Traffic control supervisor | [NAME — likely Field Supervisor] | ATSSA/flagger-instructor or client equivalent | OPEN |
Any Nova employee may stop any task, at any time, for any safety concern, without asking permission.
| 1 | Say it out loud: "Stop work." No hand signals, no hinting. |
| 2 | Everything stops and the area is made safe — machine down, hands off, men out. |
| 3 | Call the Crew Lead. The Crew Lead calls the Supervisor if it isn't resolved on the spot. |
| 4 | Work resumes only when the person who called it agrees the hazard is fixed — or the Supervisor puts a different, documented control in place. |
| 5 | It gets written on the DFR. Every stop-work is logged, whether or not it turned out to be a real hazard. |
| # | Element | Document | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Safety & Health Program (this policy) | NU-SAF-100 | Issued |
| 2 | Hazard Communication + SDS | NU-SAF-101 | Not built |
| 3 | PPE program + written hazard assessment | NU-SAF-102 | Not built (rules exist in NU-FLD-200) |
| 4 | JSA / pre-task planning | NU-SAF-103 | Form exists, procedure not built |
| 5 | Toolbox talks | NU-SAF-104 | Not built |
| 6 | Work zone traffic control & cones | NU-SAF-105 | Issued 7/27/26 |
| 7 | Flagger operations | NU-SAF-106 | Not built |
| 8 | Excavation & trenching | NU-SAF-107 | Not built — highest-risk gap |
| 9 | Damage prevention & tolerance zone | NU-SAF-108 | Covered in NU-FLD-200 ch. 4 |
| 10 | Confined space | NU-SAF-109 | Not built |
| 11 | Electrical safety + HDD strike | NU-SAF-110 | Interim rules in §7 below |
| 12 | Silica | NU-SAF-111 | Not built |
| 13 | Heat illness | NU-SAF-112 | Interim rules in §8 below |
| 14 | Mobile equipment, spotters, backing | NU-SAF-116 | Not built |
| 15 | Emergency Action Plan | NU-SAF-119 | Interim in §9 below |
| 16 | Drug & alcohol | NU-SAF-120 | Not built |
| 17 | Incident reporting & investigation | NU-SAF-121 | Draft (NU-OPS-009) |
| 18 | OSHA recordkeeping (300/300A/301) | NU-SAF-122 | Not built |
| 19 | Subcontractor safety | NU-SAF-123 | Not built |
| 20 | Training matrix & qualifications | NU-SAF-124 | Not built |
The build order for the missing elements is in NU-GOV-000 Part 5. Until an element is built, the interim rules in §§7–9 of this document apply.
These already exist across NU-FLD-200 and NU-PPL-401. This is the single place they live now.
| 1 | Marks are sacred. No machine inside the tolerance zone — hand tools only. If the marks are gone or wrong, work stops and the ticket gets re-called. |
| 2 | Pothole before every crossing. Every time. No exceptions for "we know what's there." |
| 3 | Cones before tools. The work zone goes up before anything comes off the truck (NU-SAF-105). |
| 4 | Never enter an unprotected trench. Five feet is the line; the competent person's call is the authority. No shoring or slope = no man in the hole. |
| 5 | If you strike something, you stop and you call. Gas or electric: get everyone back, call 911 first, then the Supervisor. Never try to fix it, cap it, or bury it. Never leave the scene. |
| 6 | If the rig hits electric, stay on the machine. Do not step off. Do not let anyone approach. Step potential kills people who walk away from a live machine. Stay put until the utility says it's clear — unless it's on fire, and then you jump clear with both feet together and shuffle away. |
| 7 | Never leave an open hole. Plated, fenced, or coned — with the Crew Lead's sign-off if it stays open overnight. |
| Gas strike | Everyone upwind and back at least 300 ft. No engines started, no engines shut off, no phones or radios used inside the zone. 911 first, then the utility, then the Supervisor. Nobody goes back in. |
| Electric strike | Rule 6 above. The operator stays on the machine. Everyone else stays back 35 ft minimum and keeps the public back. 911, then utility, then Supervisor. |
| Fiber / water / sewer / comm strike | Stop, protect the area, photograph before anything is touched, call the Supervisor, fill the Damage Report the same day. Never cut, splice, or "tidy up" a struck line. |
| Overhead lines | Minimum approach: treat every overhead line as energized. Rigs, trailers, dump beds, and reels stay 10 ft minimum from any line up to 50 kV — more for higher voltage. |
Georgia, May through September:
| • | Water on every truck, every day — 1 quart per man per hour available, cool. This is a truck loadout item, not a suggestion. |
| • | Shade or A/C accessible at all times — the truck cab counts. |
| • | Rest breaks scale with the heat index. Above 90°F: a break in shade every hour. Above 100°F: every 30 minutes, and the Supervisor is watching the crew, not the clock. |
| • | New hires acclimatize. First week: no more than 20% of a full day's exposure on day 1, building up across the week. Most heat deaths in construction happen in a worker's first few days. |
| • | Buddy rule. Nobody works alone in heat. Confusion, stumbling, or stopping sweating = 911, not a break. |
| 1 | Nearest hospital / ER name and address |
| 2 | The site address as a 911 dispatcher needs it (cross street if there's no address) |
| 3 | Who is calling 911 — one name, said out loud |
One caller rule. In an emergency, one named person calls 911 and stays on the line. Everyone else works the scene. Five people calling means nobody is giving the dispatcher a location.
Order of calls, always: 911 → utility (if a strike) → Supervisor → Owner.
| Training | Who | When | Renews |
|---|---|---|---|
| Day One standards training (7 rules, truck, digging, work zone, proof, points) | Every new hire | Day 1 | — |
| Two-day field training + 30-day sign-off | Every new hire | Days 1–2, then 30 | — |
| OSHA 10-Hour Construction | Every field employee | Within 60 days of hire | 5 yr (client-dependent) |
| OSHA 30-Hour Construction | Supervisors, Crew Leads | Within 6 months of promotion | 5 yr |
| CPR / First Aid / AED | Min. 1 per crew, target all | Within 60 days | 2 yr |
| Excavation competent person | Designated person(s) | Before next dig >4 ft | 3 yr |
| Flagger certification | Anyone who flags | Before flagging | 3–4 yr by issuer |
| Confined space (entrant / attendant / supervisor) | Anyone entering vaults | Before entry | Annual refresher |
| Equipment qualification (HDD, mini-ex, hydrovac) | Per machine | Before solo operation | Per NU-PPL-405 |
| Damage prevention / 811 | All field | Day 1 + annual | Annual |
The training matrix (NU-SAF-124) is a live table, not a document — one row per person per qualification, with an expiry date that turns red before it lapses. It belongs in the app on day one. Congruex already requires per-employee OSHA-10/30 and CPR records; producing them from a folder search is how a mobilization gets delayed.
| Cadence | What happens | Who | Record |
|---|---|---|---|
| Every task | JSA written and signed before ground break | Crew Lead | JSA form |
| Every day | Work zone verified · trench inspected before entry and after any rain · pre/post-trip DVIR | Crew Lead / competent person / Driver | DFR, trench log, DVIR |
| Every week | Toolbox talk (10 min, signed by everyone) · truck audit scorecard · Supervisor site visits | Supervisor | Toolbox sheet, scorecard |
| Every month | Incident/near-miss review · training expirations 60 days out · fire extinguisher & first aid check | Supervisor | Monthly safety note |
| Every quarter | Program element review — what got built, what's still open | Owner | This register |
| Every year | Full program review + signature refresh · OSHA 300A posted Feb 1–Apr 30 · insurance loss-run review | Owner | Signed §12 |
Toolbox talks delivered vs. scheduled · JSAs signed vs. crew-days worked · near-misses reported (a rising number here is good — it means people are talking) · training items expiring in 60 days · stop-work calls logged.
I, Adam Pelewski, Owner of Nova Underground, adopt this Safety & Health Program. I commit the company's resources to it, I hold every employee — including myself — to it, and I authorize every employee to stop work over any safety concern without fear of consequence.
Next annual review due: July 2027
| #1 | Sign §12. Unsigned, this is a draft and it fails every prequal that asks for it. |
| #2 | Name the excavation competent person in §3 — required by OSHA by name, and required before the next dig over 4 ft. If nobody is trained yet, that training is the single highest-value safety dollar Nova can spend this month. |
| #3 | Confirm the overhead-line approach distance in §7 against client requirements. |
| #4 | Approve adding the "nearest hospital" field to the Work Order form. |