Building Smarter, Safer
My good friend and mentor, Danny Palanuk, taught me this early in my career: Safety is About People. At Gervais Ventures, safety is not about numbers, forms, and statistics, Safety is about People.
How Gervais Ventures Elevates Safety Across Every Jobsite
Safety is About Protecting What’s Valuable, it’s About Your People.
Our co-founder, Nik Gervais’ good friend and mentor, Danny Palanuk, taught him early in his career: Safety is About People.
It’s about the people who work on our projects and their families. It’s about the neighbors near our sites. It’s about the students, residents, and work staff who cohabitate on our active campus projects.
That’s why it was critical to our team to focus on the people and establish the right safety culture onsite from day one.
Partnership with SAVI EHS and ABC Central Florida Safety Captive Program
As general contractors, we are responsible for setting the stage for the workers on our site to perform at their best. We knew that simply having Safety and Wellness as a core value wasn’t enough. We needed to build a program that worked for our people.
When we launched Gervais Ventures, we knew safety would always be a priority—but like many growing companies, we didn't have the capacity to build a full in-house EHS team from the beginning. That changed when we connected with Christian Deater, the Chief Business Officer at The Amphibious Group.
Christian Deater and Nik Gervais both came from global companies known for their impeccable safety programs and clearly defined processes. We saw an opportunity to bring that same level of discipline and care to Gervais Ventures—ensuring that our teams and trade partners benefit from a higher standard of safety, no matter the project size.
“I needed someone I could call if something happened—and someone who could help us prevent it in the first place. SAVI helped us develop a great program. This program helped us get organized, stay accountable, and build a safety culture we are very proud of.”
That’s why we partnered with SAVI EHS and the ABC Central Florida Safety Captive Program to develop our corporate Environmental, Health, and Safety (EHS) program. Through the ABC Safety Captive Program, and with support from SAVI EHS, we now have dedicated safety managers who visit our sites to assist our team and help us improve safety operations.
Be Proactive, Not Reactive
One of the biggest advantages of the ABC Safety Captive Program is its focus on people and prevention. We developed a custom safety program that was always People First, from pre-construction and sub-contractor outreach to setting site logistics, worker orientation, Day One Follow Up, Daily Morning Meetings, Daily Worker Engagement, and forecasting upcoming risks and hazards. We always focus on People First.
We now have fantastic worker engagement on our projects. This has led to our success.
“Every company is in a different place when it comes to safety. Our goal is to meet contractors where they are and provide scalable support that moves them forward.”
Real Results, Real Commitment
We are very proud of the results thus far. Our teams are engaged; they communicate, collaborate, and look out for each other onsite.
By putting People First since our company’s inception in 2023, we have had ZERO recordable incidents and ZERO lost time incidents on our projects.
Even with minor issues, our team takes every opportunity to learn and improve. We follow a consistent process of root cause analysis and corrective action to strengthen our safety practices and prevent future incidents. It's part of our commitment to continuous improvement.
More Than Just Jobsite Safety, We focus on People
Our safety program isn't limited to the field. We bring the same level of care and accountability to our corporate team and processes. Safety is the first topic of discussion during all our meetings—internal, external, with clients, partners, and vendors. We're building a safety-first culture that touches every part of the business.
By partnering with SAVI EHS, we've created a safety program that we are very proud of. We've created a safety program that is engaging and proactive. We've created a Safety Program that Focuses on People. Special thanks to both Danny Palanuk and Christian Deater for their leadership and mentorship.
Quote from Mr. Palanuk “Here is One of Life’s Equations: Construction is all about the numbers. Numbers become most important when they are tied to people’s lives. Remember it’s not about numbers, it’s about People”
