Meet Caitlin Bergin, EHS Professional
Caitlin Bergin of BSI Consulting supports Google’s High-Risk Operations Construction & Facilities team. She didn’t expect to find herself in the trades until she was introduced to EHS by her roommate in college.
Her curiosity helped her land a job at Apple. After three years, Bergin wanted to “take a deeper dive into construction”—a journey that eventually led her to BSI where she supports Google’s high-risk operations and facilities division. (Along the way, she passed through Rosendin Electric, where she collected more valuable skills and experience.)
“I really wanted to be able to diagnose an issue from the ground up,” Bergin says. “Most of the way I learned was asking tons of questions.”
She now works for BSI Consulting, a firm that handles Google’s safety and risk management systems, as an Environmental Health and Safety (EHS) manager.
“It’s funny, the people I work with now are some of the same people I’ve worked with since the beginning of my professional career, which really shows how tight-knit the industry can be despite how many people work in it,” Bergin says.
Breaking safety out of its silo
Bergin says she first started using Highwire in August of 2020. “My boss had used it at a different company and really enjoyed it,” she says.
Bergin says her team uses Highwire to assess and prequalify subcontractors before a job goes out to bid—to gauge past performance and set expectations. Her client has developed minimum score thresholds to assess subcontractors. Companies who meet those standards will automatically receive the go-ahead; but if a subcontractor falls below them, Bergin’s client engages the company to develop corrective action plans to better identify and protect against potential risks on the project.
“I think that has been beneficial as a way to break EHS, or safety, out of its silo,” Bergin says. “It’s one thing to try to take a look at a stack of papers and say, OK, this company has a good or bad safety program … but the way that Highwire displays the data, and the programs it asks for—including, for example, mental health programs, recognition programs—helps everyone, not just safety, stay in the know.”
In addition to prequalification, Bergin says she uses Highwire for its auditing and inspection tools, as well as to report work hours and incidents. She also credits Highwire’s customer support team: “The troubleshooting aspect is really important to us,” she says.
Bergin is a daily Highwire user. “Thinking about all of the different programs that I’ve used, I honestly think that Highwire has been one of, if not, my favorite platforms to use,” she says.
The ‘norms’ of construction
It’s not lost on Bergin that the construction industry hasn’t always welcomed women, people of color, and other marginalized groups.
She cites several examples, such as how personal protective equipment (PPE) is often designed to fit the male body; or the disproportionate impacts specific building chemicals have on people of color.
“As a woman in construction and over the past decade or so, and being on sites in physical safety roles, I think we’ve come a long way,” she says “And in the spirit of continuous improvement, there’s a lot more that we can do as an industry to make women feel included and part of the whole team.”
Looking back on her decade in the industry, Bergin also understands the importance of communicating. If your PPE doesn’t fit you, speak up. Prioritize your mental health. And to those who are just starting out: just go for it!
“The construction industry can really provide for a great lifestyle with compounding benefits,” she says. “To women and young people in general just getting into the trades, I would say find someone who can champion your success. Find a buddy, find an ally. You’re not alone in these workspaces.”
