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MAY/JUNE 2006:

Cover Story:
T-REX on Track

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America's Interstates
A Grand Entrance
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Bi-Lingual Safety
Above the Clouds

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AGC/Willis Safety Awards
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Inside AGC — May/June 2006

AGC/Willis Construction Safety Excellence Awards

The AGC/Willis Construction Safety Excellence Awards are given annually to contractors who best demonstrate a cultural commitment to safety. Winners have set up innovative safety programs and have achieved zero work site fatalities and multi-catastrophic injuries. Top safety programs also have active employee participation, safety training and work site hazard identification and control.

Construction Safety Excellence Grand Award Winner: (L-R) AGC Past President Sam Hunter; Sundt Construction employees Brian Murphy, Mike Hoover, Matt O'Connell; Willis' Jim Maloney; keynote speaker Joe Theismann, ESPN and Sundt Construction CEO Doug Pruitt.

Grand Award Winner
Sundt Construction Inc., Tucson, Ariz.
Highway Division-Over one million hours
Employees are Sundt Construction Inc.'s most important asset, and employee safety is Sundt's greatest responsibility. Sundt has created a safety program that emphasizes training the work force even before employees step onto the job site, always striving for a safe work environment with zero accidents. A secret to Sundt's success is that it even evaluates the safety records of its subcontractors before allowing them to bid on a Sundt project. Sundt's accident rates and cost per man-hour rates have decreased 400% because of the company's efforts to get the entire work force involved in the safety culture.
Sundt is currently one of only two contractors in Arizona to partner with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

First Place Construction Safety Excellence Award Winners
Emerick Construction Co., Portland, Ore.
Building Division-Under 100,000 hours
Emerick's continued success in safety is due to the management and staff commitment to a top-notch safety program. Its safety policy stresses independent judgment and rewards group responsibility throughout the company. Field employees are offered incentives based on an individual's continuous number of hours worked safely. Superintendents who work hard at keeping job sites safe for crews and the public are also recognized on a regular basis.

Grunley-Walsh LLC, Rockville, Md.
Building Division-100,001-300,000 work hours
Grunley-Walsh LLC performs historical renovation and design-build projects, many consisting of high-risk activities such as working near active railroad tracks and around the public. In June 2005, Grunley-Walsh hired a full-time corporate safety manager who has since implemented several new safety practices, including formal orientation and training, 100% fall protection, 100% eye-and-head protection and a formal fleet program, all of which resulted in a 180-degree turnaround in corporate safety and risk management practices.

Blaine Construction Corp., Knoxville, Tenn.
Building Division-300,001-700,000 work hours
Blaine Construction Corp.'s Safety Program operates under a dynamic, wide-ranging program that encompasses all of the company's trades and services. The written program contains approximately 50 policies, along with pertinent forms and checklists. The program is then used to complete site-specific policies that address hazards unique to particular job sites and trades.

Caddell Construction Co. Inc., Montgomery, Ala.
Building Division-700,000-one million work hours
From the beginning of Caddell Construction to the present day, company founder John A. Caddell made safety a top priority. The effectiveness of Caddell's safety program can be seen through its safety record and influence in the construction industry. The program even became the national Turkish safety model after Turkish companies observed Caddell while it built the Istanbul Consulate.

Perini Building Co., Framingham, Mass.
Building Division-Over one million work hours
Each new project at Perini begins with project managers, superintendents and safety professionals creating a job-specific safety program based on a hazard analysis of the various methods of construction to be used in the work, whether it's structural steel, concrete, precast or finishes. These plans are incorporated in the bid structure before the description of work going out for bid. This commitment to safety has kept Perini's incident and frequency rates well below the national average.

Story Construction Co., Ames, Iowa
Heavy Division-100,001-300,000 work hours
Because safety is a core value, it is planned into every activity at Story Construction Co., enabling employees to better understand the safety risks and know how they are going to manage them. Story strives to involve all employees, regardless of their role in the company. It recently celebrated working one million hours without a lost-time accident.

Beaver Excavating Co., Canton, Ohio
Heavy Division-300,001-700,000 work hours
Beaver Excavating Co. uses many approaches to promote total commitment to a safe and healthy work environment on all job sites. However, the key component of the company's safety program is the personal contact with every employee during each job-site visit. The continuous involvement of every employee in the day-to-day implementation of safe work practices is absolutely critical for the program's overall effectiveness.

J.F. White Contracting Co., Framingham, Mass.
Heavy Division-Over one million work hours
J.F. White Contracting Co. stresses the importance of accident prevention to all employees. Its safety department analyzes and tracks all accidents on projects and evaluates trends to identify proper remediation techniques. The company places special importance on additional training programs to target and lower the reoccurrence of incidents.

Grimes Asphalt, Grimes, Iowa
Highway Division-100,001-300,000 work hours
Grimes Asphalt supports its valuable work force in many ways, including providing exceptional safety training consisting of outside classes and on-site learning in the company's state-of-the-art employee training center. Employees also receive weekly training on safety topics. Supervisors receive much more intensive training in on-the-job topics, as well as motivation, leadership, interpersonal communication skills, coaching and team building, among others.

KLB Construction Inc., Mukilteo, Wash.
Highway Division-700,001-one million work hours
The KLB Safety Training Program is comprised of on-the-job field training, including daily tailgate safety meetings and formal classroom training. KLB relies mostly on daily personal positive reinforcement to motivate worker safety performance, but also presents an annual Safety Awards Banquet that provides two hours of relevant safety training. The company recognizes individuals for specific accomplishments and injury-free service with gifts, cash rewards and certificates.

B.R.S. Inc., Richfield, N.C.
Municipal Division-100,001-300,000 work hours
Although it has always had a commitment to safety, B.R.S. Inc. furthered its commitment in 2004 by including a new Safety Audit Program. Since then, the company has had no lost-time accidents, fewer incidents, a better knowledge of safety standards and has placed a record $250,000 into the Profit Sharing Program.

Mechanical Technologies Group, Denver, Colo.
Specialty Contractor-100,001-300,000 work hours
Mechanical Technologies Group's safety program is comprised of nine major elements: Leadership and Administration, Planned General Schedule Inspections, Accident/Incident Investigation, Organizational Rules, Plan Group Meetings, Personal Protective Equipment, Hiring and Placement, Task Analysis and Procedures and Emergency Preparedness. MTech's open, corporate culture, combined with its comprehensive safety program, encourages employee involvement in decision making and problem solving in all categories of safety, quality and production-making MTech's safety culture innovative and efficient.

Cummings Electrical Inc., Irving, Texas
Specialty Contractor-300,001-700,000 work hours
After receiving feedback from employees through a Safety Questionnaire, Cummings Electrical Inc. has implemented new features to its safety program. Efforts include the 90-day Refresher and Shared Responsibility programs in which every new hire completes a four-hour orientation before starting work. After 90 days on the job, the new hires are brought back for an additional four hours of training in all areas of the safety program. Employees are responsible for compliance with all safety and health policies and procedures for themselves and their coworkers.

Pacific Coast Steel Inc., San Diego, Calif.
Specialty Contractor-700,001-one million work hours
Pacific Coast Steel's commitment to safety is apparent throughout the company with investments continually being made in the hiring of personnel, safety equipment, innovative safety programs, orientations, incentive programs and claims management. The company is strategically organized to delegate safety to all levels of employees. It is clear that as PCS continues to grow, safety has to be everyone's responsibility.

Faith Technologies Inc., Appleton, Wis.
Specialty Contractor-Over one million work hours
Safety staff at Faith Technologies Inc. are frequently engaged in project pre-planning efforts to integrate safety into the entire work process. Company estimators consult with safety staff at the bid stage of projects to ensure that site-specific needs are accounted for in the estimate. Project managers who have unique safety needs often schedule planning meetings with site supervision, safety directors and customers to coordinate high-hazard tasks before starting them, allowing all parties to "get on the same page" for safety.

 

 

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