Core Values Archives - Garvin's Sewer Service, Inc

At Garvin’s we created a Code of Conduct that includes 6 Core Values. Today we want to explain Safety and what it means to us.

We define Safety as:

Creating and maintaining a safe environment for both employees and customers

Garvin’s Real-Life Examples of Safety

For our technicians:

Our technicians, depending on their tasks, either attend a general safety training or attend an OSHA 10 course. They also compete a 3-hour defensive driving course to help them stay safe on the road (they do a lot of driving during any given day.)

Every week, each of our technicians receive a Safety Information sheet that deep dives into a specific safety topic relevant to their job. Some of these topics have included:

Avoiding chemical burns from liquid drain cleaners
Treating pest and insect bites/stings
Foot, eye, ear protection
Slip and fall safety practices
And more

Quarterly we conduct a safety audit of every technician’s vehicle to make sure they have first aid supplies, accident kits, and that their Personal Protective equipment, supplies, and machinery are in good working condition.

Employees know that they never have to do work in an unsafe environment, and because they are at customer’s homes, we can’t always control the work conditions. They mitigate conditions to the best of their ability and they always maintain the right to refuse service due to unsafe conditions.

The health and safety of our technicians is important so they can get home each and every day to their families.

For our customers:

Without our customers, we wouldn’t have jobs, and keeping them safe is our priority. Plumbing in its general purpose was designed for sanitation and health. The steps we take to ensure customer safety include:

Using tarps, mats and shields to protect personal property
Wearing appropriate gloves, masks, hard hats or other PPE when on property to protect both you and the worker from injury
Proper training on high-risk tasks, such as using flame retardants when soldering
Cleaning up after ourselves
Refraining from using drugs or alcohol before and during working hours
Using safe driving practices

Where Would We Be Without Plumbing?

Plumbing brings clean water in our homes and allows waste to be flushed away. Without it, we could be facing a sanitary issue. Countries without clean water and sanitation systems experience more disease and even death from preventable bacterial conditions.

In the US, we also have the opportunity to not only have clean water delivered right into our homes, but we also are able to use plumbing in an aesthetically pleasing way. From water fall shower heads to trough or bib sinks – we can have the latest in interior design when it comes to water supply and waste systems.

When plumbing is functioning at its optimum, it controls pests (thank you p-traps), mold (thank you no leaks), sanitation (thank you toilets), and supports homes designed the way we want and need, (thank you water heaters, sump pumps, hose bibs, garbage disposals… ok, you get the point).

Truly, indoor plumbing is remarkable and we take it for granted until it isn’t working properly. This is what makes plumbers and drain technicians so important in our world, and why keeping them safe is critical. Maybe you never thought of plumbing in such a way – but it’s true, plumbing is a modern wonder and maybe, just maybe, that makes plumbers superheroes!

Do you have questions about safety for you or our technicians as they perform work in your home? Drop us a comment, call, or e-mail. We are happy to answer any of your questions relating to drain cleaning or plumbing.

We define Accountability as:

Holding yourself and others responsible and accountable for actions and activities. We take immediate and appropriate action, and we own our actions start to finish.

Real Life Examples of Accountability

Here’s an example of this core value at work:

Garvin’s Sewer Service has been in business for over 80 years. In those 80 years, we have made mistakes, however we wouldn’t have our longevity if we didn’t make things right to the best of our ability. This is where accountability is best demonstrated, and I’d like to give two examples.

Hold Harmless Clause

As plumbers, we are often called onto jobs where there is existing water damage and breaks. Because of this, we have a hold harmless clause on all our invoices that says we aren’t responsible for pre-existing or unforeseen conditions such as broken pipes, plumbing code violations, or lead piping.

We had one customer who we serviced for nearly ten years and every year we told her that she had galvanized pipe which needed to be replaced. On the eleventh year, when we cleaned the sink line with galvanized pipe, the pipe finally had corroded and caused a leak. She felt we were responsible for the damages. We disagreed.

We felt it was our responsibility to inform the homeowner, year over year, that she needed to replace the pipe, which we did. But the pipes were never replaced. I tried to explain it this way… if you take your car in to have the tires rotated and the mechanic tells you that you need an oil change, and you never do it, you can’t blame the mechanic when the engine seizes simply because they are the ones who rotated your tires.

We own our part and expect others to own theirs. Here’s a second example:

Drain Line Replacement

We recently had a customer who had just bought a home and three months later discovered the sewer line had backed up and filled her crawlspace with sewage – yuck! Before we could do any work, she had to have a restoration company out to mitigate the sewage.

Once that was done, we sent a plumber out to repair and clean the line. Unfortunately, the repair he made wasn’t sufficient and the cap blew off, resulting in another flooding of the crawlspace. The homeowner called us irate (and rightfully so), I listened to her and expressed empathy because I understood how frustrating and devastating plumbing problems can be. We refunded her money, redid the work, and paid the insurance company for the damages we caused.

We were paid to fix the problem, and when we didn’t do it effectively, we owed it. We don’t like to make mistakes, especially when it causes such a heartache and physical damages to a customer. However, when we do, and it is really because of something we did, we hold ourselves accountable and make it right.

If you are looking for a plumbing in Englewood who holds themselves to code of conduct that includes accountability, Garvin’s Sewer Service would like to earn your business.

Garvin’s Sewer Service Core Values: Safety