The Motz Group identified a pressing need to evolve and strengthen its safety culture as the business expanded operations and field complexity increased across their turf installation projects. While historically committed to safe work practices, the company recognized that rising industry risks and evolving client demands required a more proactive, data-driven safety approach that could scale with their growing operations. 

Operating in the specialized field of turf installation, The Motz Group’s workforce faces unique hazards that distinguish their operations from typical construction environments. Turf installation involves handling sharp materials, working with specialized equipment, and maintaining precision standards under various weather conditions and project timelines. These distinctive operational demands create specific risk profiles that require tailored safety approaches rather than generic construction safety protocols.

A key challenge centered on inconsistent safety practices in the field, particularly regarding personal protective equipment usage and hazard awareness during turf installation activities. The nature of the work, which often involves handling materials with sharp edges and working in physically demanding positions, created recurring injury patterns that were both preventable and costly. Field audits conducted by Charles Taylor’s safety solutions division revealed a troubling pattern of frequent hand injuries caused by employees handling sharp turf materials without proper cut-resistant gloves. 

These incidents were not merely isolated problems but represented systemic gaps in safety protocol implementation and hazard awareness. Each injury posed significant risks to worker health and wellbeing, while also creating cascading effects on job site productivity, team morale, and long-term workers’ compensation costs. The pattern suggested that existing safety measures weren’t being consistently applied or weren’t adequately addressing the specific risks inherent in turf installation work. 

At the programmatic level, site inspections and safety observations were limited in both frequency and scope, creating blind spots in risk identification and prevention efforts. The infrequent nature of formal safety assessments made it difficult to proactively identify emerging hazards, track the effectiveness of safety interventions, or measure progress over time in meaningful ways. This reactive approach hindered the company’s ability to implement targeted improvements and prevented leadership from making data-informed decisions about safety investments and priorities. 

Moreover, the absence of a formalized, standardized safety system across jobsites created inconsistencies in safety culture and accountability. Different teams and locations operated with varying levels of safety awareness and protocol adherence, making it challenging to drive consistent field-level accountability, track compliance across the organization, or gauge cultural engagement with safety initiatives. This fragmentation meant that safety improvements in one area might not translate to system-wide benefits. 

The challenge extended beyond operational metrics to encompass fundamental behavioral and cultural issues. With operations spanning multiple locations and teams, it became increasingly clear that even isolated safety lapses had the potential to cascade into serious incidents, creating not only immediate harm to employees but also broader reputational risks and substantial workers’ compensation exposures. The interconnected nature of construction projects meant that safety failures could affect multiple stakeholders and create liability issues that extended far beyond individual incidents. 

Tackling the Problem 

The Motz Group launched a comprehensive safety transformation program in partnership with Charles Taylor’s safety solutions division, an initiative that began in 2022 and was continuously enhanced through 2025. The program focused on building a structured, measurable, and proactive safety culture that could adapt and scale across all operational levels while maintaining effectiveness as the company grew. 

Dan Veil, Manager of Field Operations, The Motz Group

The transformation strategy was built around several core initiatives designed to address both immediate safety concerns and long-term cultural development. The team developed a tailored safety management system specifically aligned to The Motz Group’s turf installation operations, recognizing that generic safety approaches wouldn’t address the unique hazards and workflow requirements of their specialized work. This customized system included formal documentation of safety protocols, detailed procedures for hazard identification and response, and comprehensive audit criteria designed to ensure uniform standards across all job sites regardless of location or project complexity. 

Employee safety orientations and ongoing training became central pillars of the new approach. The Motz Group launched structured safety onboarding for all new hires that went beyond basic safety awareness to provide practical, job-specific training on the unique hazards of turf installation work. Current team members received comprehensive refresher courses that emphasized emergency response procedures, advanced hazard recognition techniques, updated PPE standards, and evolving safe work practices. This educational approach empowered employees to become active participants in their own safety and that of their colleagues, creating a foundation for sustainable safety culture development. 

One of the cornerstone shifts involved dramatically expanding the scope and frequency of jobsite safety inspections. Rather than relying on sporadic evaluations that provided limited insight into actual working conditions, The Motz Group committed to ongoing, comprehensive audits that included real-time coaching opportunities, hands-on hazard correction, and systematic data capture for trend analysis. This proactive approach enabled immediate intervention when safety concerns were identified while building a robust database of safety information for strategic planning. 

When audit data revealed a recurring trend in hand injuries specifically related to turf handling activities, leadership demonstrated their commitment to data-driven decision making by taking immediate, targeted action. In Q1 2023, cut-resistant gloves were mandated for all field employees handling turf materials. This proactive implementation of enhanced PPE standards was both swift and comprehensive, underscoring the organization’s growing ability to turn audit data into effective operational changes that protected worker safety. 

The program also implemented sophisticated safety performance dashboards that leveraged data from consecutive 12-month reporting cycles to track metrics over time. These dashboards provided leadership with unprecedented visibility into safety trends, enabling evidence-based goal setting, enhanced accountability measures, and meaningful cross-site comparisons that informed resource allocation and strategic planning decisions. 

Success to Build On 

The Motz Group’s safety transformation delivered impressive, data-backed improvements in both employee protection and operational performance. What began as a focused hazard mitigation effort evolved into a defining cultural shift where accountability, awareness, and proactive action became shared values across every jobsite and operational level. 

Organization: The Motz Group * Location: Cincinnati, Ohio * Number of Employees: 100 * Category: Construction

The most compelling metric demonstrating program effectiveness was the dramatic 400% reduction in hand-cut injuries, dropping from 8 injuries during 2021-2022 to just 2 injuries during the entire 2023-2025 period, including zero injuries reported in 2025 to date. This remarkable decrease directly highlights the power of targeted PPE enforcement, real-time hazard correction, and data-driven safety interventions. The improvement correlates directly to reduced workers’ compensation exposure, improved workforce morale, and enhanced operational continuity. 

Broader safety improvements were equally impressive, with average negative observations per inspection dropping from 5.67 in 2022 to 2.52 in 2025—a 56% improvement that held steady even as inspection frequency increased dramatically from just 3 to 25 annually. This trend demonstrates that increased oversight led to genuine safety improvements rather than simply identifying more problems. 

Negative observations as a percentage of total findings fell from approximately 14% to 5.7%, indicating that not only were more issues being proactively identified, but the actual rate of safety problems had dropped substantially. This metric shift signals successful cultural transformation where employees view safety as a core responsibility rather than a compliance checkbox. 

The safety improvements generated broader business value including reduced injury-related downtime, lower direct and indirect costs associated with claims, improved team morale and employee retention, and significantly greater client confidence in The Motz Group’s operational excellence and professionalism. 

The Motz Group’s transformation serves as a comprehensive model for data-driven safety culture development, demonstrating what’s possible when strategic leadership, employee engagement, and systematic measurement align to create sustainable workplace safety excellence. 

“The Motz Group demonstrated remarkable leadership in safety innovation, proactively addressing risks and implementing effective solutions that significantly reduced workplace injuries. Their commitment to employee well-being and strong safety culture truly exemplifies the spirit of the Theo Award,” said Troy Teepe, vice president, of safety solutions at Charles Taylor. &

The Theo Award celebrates its sophomore year, honoring 32 workers’ compensation programs for their excellence and service to workers across the nation. To learn more about the award and amazing qualities each winner possesses, visit here.