Building People Series with Steven Cirona from Integrate Safety

We recently sat down with Steven Cirona, Managing Director of Integrate Safety to learn more about how the business has made a strong impact on the building and construction industry through their passion to influence change in the workplace regarding safety culture and compliance.

Integrate Safety has established their core focus in safety, environmental and quality consulting services for businesses small and large, bringing experience and range to each construction client they partner with.

We explored how Steven’s professional experience led to starting his own boutique construction safety business and how Integrate Safety has grown quickly to become a leader in transforming construction companies into smart, certified and compliant in safety.

Steven Cirona’s Career and Professional Background

As the founder and managing director of Integrate Safety, Steven’s professional experience has played an important role in the development of the business today.

Steven began his career in 2004 as a qualified carpenter on domestic construction builds, where he honed his craft over five years learning how sites operate at high volume.

He moved into formwork in the commercial construction space, gaining valuable experience in how the commercial space operated and immediately understood the various forms of risk and safety requirements.

Connections made while working onsite peaked his interest in the safety space and this led him to take steps toward gaining safety qualifications through night school while working full time.

After graduating with his certificate IV in OHS, Steven landed a short-term contract role as safety advisor with JG King Projects before progressing to volume builder Boutique Homes, conducting safety audits on some of their 700+ live projects at any time.

Following completing two and a half years at Boutique Homes, Steven continued to upskill by obtaining a Diploma in OHS and took an opportunity with civil construction company BMD Constructions for 3 years working across two major roads and services projects valued at $200 million, gaining exposure to the nuances of civil and working with heavy plant machinery providing a different lens to domestic and commercial builder construction.

Steven progressed to Mirvac as a safety coordinator, where he gained an insight into the culture of a leading top-tier construction company working on multiple large scale commercial apartment projects. The role of safety on commercial projects valued over $200 million presents an environment with complex and often high-risk frameworks, which lead to more robust safety management systems with little margin for error.

He went on to join Probuild in a corporate and operational safety role, supporting multiple, large-scale projects with more autonomy to further develop, implement and monitor compliance against the safety and environmental management system framework required on tier 1 projects.

This invaluable experience in dynamic and challenging environments, combined with Steven’s desire to continually learn and adapt to complex situations, led to the appetite to begin consulting and ultimately led to starting Integrate Safety.

The motivators were also personal; Steven had a desire to spend more time with his young family and leave a legacy they could be proud of.

Integrate Safety’s Offerings and Capabilities

Steven founded Integrate Safety in early 2022 and the business has grown quickly to service construction companies, small to large, through a range of specialist HSEQ services.

Integrate Safety assists construction companies with audits and inspections, developing and implementing safety management systems, obtaining ISO Certification and incorporating construction technology that streamline the management systems framework.

Integrate Safety takes a risk-based approach to develop the management systems required for each client, ensuring they are appropriate for the scale of the working environment for each company, yet always practical and achievable to implement. They assist companies in meeting the OHS Ministerial Directions criteria to be onboarded and accepted onto the Construction Supplier Register (CSR), which creates opportunities for them to tender and take on government work over $5 million in value.

Integrate Safety holds a partnership with a Third-Party Certification Body Global-Mark as an ISO Lead Auditor registered through Exemplar Global. Integrate Safety can conduct ISO Certification audits against the ISO Standards for safety, environmental and quality management where Certification can be recommended to the Certification Body upon a successful outcome in scenarios where an organisation can demonstrate that the international standards have been implemented and complied with.

Having worked within the industry as a safety professional for 14 years and now among a variety of approx. 20 clients, Integrate Safety is selective with the clients they contract to as they want to engage with businesses who always put safety first and strive to continually improve as an overall business with respect to HSEQ in the workplace.

Through an extensive vetting and procurement process, Integrate Safety are now collaborating with Development Victoria to conduct project-based safety and environmental audits as well as desktop audits. They audit tenderers and principal contractors who will be carrying out the contracts to ensure they are compliant while administering government work in Victoria.

In addition, they are working with Exemplo Constructions who are a commercial builder and construction management business to further develop a safety, environmental and quality management system with scope to assist them through the CSR process.

Since Exemplo’s inception, Integrate Safety has been working closely with managing director and top management to implement and embed an “above the line” thinking safety culture as well as a safety compliance framework of the management system and train the project teams to streamline compliance.

Technology has been at the forefront where Integrate Safety has been able to apply its comprehensive knowledge of the technology vendors to guide Exemplo Construction to the most appropriate applications for their business.

Furthermore, Integrate Safety is working with Wolf Group Australia who are a residential and commercial builder to undertake periodic reviews of their existing management system framework and provide OHS advice and guidance to the senior leaders of the business.

Integrate Safety conduct OHS inspections across their active projects and work closely with the operational teams. In addition, Integrate Safety have recently assisted Wolf Group Australia to become a listed entity on the Construction Supplier Register creating new opportunities for the business.

The diversity in contracted clients is a strength of Integrate Safety and a credit to their ability to deliver the best solution based on the client’s position.

Integrate Safety’s experience across a range of clients and businesses has brought awareness of the best technology solutions to implement safety, environmental and quality management systems. This enables them to recommend the best technology for each company, no matter the size, to track their management system performance and compliance.

Technology including HammerTech, Procore, 1Breadcrumb and Buildpass are part of their core competencies, and they are equally adept at assessing how to best incorporate these into the safety process.

The Vision for Integrate Safety

The next 12-24 months will see Integrate Safety expand their team and onboard new resources to support an expected continuation of organic growth as they build out their breadth of clients and contract to more clients within Victoria and other states across Australia.

Steven’s leadership, attention to detail, commitment, and ability to engage stakeholders at both organisational and project levels, is set to play an important role during the period.

Integrate Safety’s diverse client base and successful implementation of HSEQ best practices will likely lead to new opportunities through the network of construction companies, which could open new doors to work with companies looking to innovate; especially those identifying construction technology are paramount to their future success.

To find out how Integrate Safety can assist your business, contact Steven Cirona at [email protected], visit their website at integratesafety.com.au or phone 1300 001 842

Integrate Safety is a valued member of the Conecta Industry Directory, helping construction companies take a streamlined and innovative approach to their growth.

To learn more about resources, applications and technology options to improve your construction business – visit the Conecta ConTech Industry Directory today!