Intentional Safety: Foundry Partner's Advantage

On a recent visit to The Lilly Medicine Foundry one detail stood out more than anything else: The Foundry Partners Team considers every aspect, even how people simply move around the site. 

Instead of leaving pedestrians to make it work alongside equipment and materials, the project team installed dedicated gravel walkways, framed on both sides by large painted concrete barricades. On too many jobs, designated walkways either don’t exist or are put in as an afterthought using snow fence and a few stakes. It’s different here. The walkway is intentional, feels permanent, and is clearly respected. 

What really elevates the walkway is how the team uses those concrete barrier blocks. They don’t just serve as protection from vehicles. They’ve been turned into billboards for positive, motivating messages, with words like “STEWARDSHIP,” “OWNERSHIP,” and “LEAD” boldly printed on them. These aren’t just slogans. They are daily reminders of the culture driving this project. 

Details like this can seem small to an outside observer, but they speak volumes. When a partnership invests time, money, and creativity into how people safely get from Point A to Point B, it sends a clear message: “You matter. Your safety matters. We thought about you before you even stepped on site.” That kind of intentional care builds trust. And when trust grows, teams communicate better, increase awareness for one another, and ultimately deliver projects more safely and successfully. 

Doug Mcelvy is our Corporate Safety Support based in North Carolina.