CCS Celebrates 25th Annual Awards Program

The locally-based Coalition for Construction Safety (CCS) celebrated 25 years of awards celebrations with a nod to the past and a look to the future as the event morphed into an elegant evening of drinks and hors d’oeuvres evoking more of a party-type atmosphere in place of the dinner banquet held in the first 24 years.

The new format worked as attendees responded positively to the changes ushered in by Association Manager Marcy Watson. “We took a survey immediately after the event and we were pleased to find that eighty percent said that they loved the new format,” said Watson.

Watson added that the awards committee will be meeting soon and will likely be planning a similar format for next year’s event with an eye toward allowing another venue a shot at holding what is one of the construction industry’s most important evenings.

Featured throughout the night were videotaped reminisces of a few of those who played key roles in the early development of the organization. Included were Gary Price, the organization’s first executive director and president who served in those capacities for twenty three years; John Lindenschmidt of RMS Safety, who was the first chairman of what was then called the Education and Training Committee and who would later serve as a board member and treasurer; Paul Lee, recently retired from Eli Lilly and Company who was instrumental in creating and launching the Certification Program and who also led the way toward forging a partnership between CCS and the Indiana Department of Labor; and, Rex Phillips also recently retired from Lilly who served for many years on the Substance Abuse Committee as its chairman and later served as Chairman of the Board of Directors.

ERMCO Wins Crystal Eagle Award

For the previous 24 years, ERMCO was often the bridesmaid but they came out “best of the best” in 2018 garnering the top company award for the program, the “Crystal Eagle” award.

The company was recognized in part because they created an in-house “Safety Culture Immersion and Behavioral Success Training” class. The training is a four-hour classroom session conducted monthly and attended by 15-25 field employees, ranging from general foreman and foremen to wiremen and apprentices.

One of the sessions is entitled “EMR and the Business Side of Safety”. ERMCO has found that this session has dramatically increased employee buy-in and continues to build a Zero Incident Safety Culture. This is the “Why Safety?” session and goes beyond the cliché answer of “so you go home at the end of the day.”

To help re-engage employees in a safety-focused culture, ERMCO provides a real-world business approach to safety and discuss what is in it for them.

Five Companies Land Safety Leader Awards

Five companies were given “Safety Leader” Awards recognizing them as the five best of those many who entered the competition. These five companies then became the nominees for the Crystal Eagle Award.

BMWC Constructors
Dow AgroSciences
ERMCO
Gribbins Insulation
Solid Platforms

Fourteen Companies are Recognized with the Safety Achievement Award

AAA Roofing Co., Inc.
Blood Hound
BMWC Constructors
Central Indiana Alliance
Dow AgroSciences
ERMCO, Inc.
Freitag Weinhardt
Gribbins Insulation
Industrial Electric, Inc.
Kennedy Tank & Mfg. Company
Messer Construction Co.
Midwest Mole, Inc.
Solid Platforms, Inc.
Weddle Bros. Construction Companies

Steinberger Construction Wins Innovation Award

According to the judges, many companies collect safety related information but they fail to learn from the information and tweak their programs based upon it.

Steinberger took the opportunity to analyze their information to realize that they had several training needs and created an On the Job Training program in January 2017.

They then fulfilled these needs with experienced team members as trainers, personally invited participation of the trainees and provided them knowledge of the trade, quality and safety.

Their effort resulted in improved safety, efficiency and employee morale.

Board of Directors Award to Rex Phillips

Recently retired Eli Lilly executive Rex Phillips was given the Board of Directors Award selected by the Executive Committee to recognize a volunteer who has made a significant impact on the organization.

Phillips has been involved with the organization for many years and was instrumental in his service on the Substance Abuse Oversight Committee as well as having served six years on the Board of Directors - two of those as Chairman.

CMS Corporation Honored for Outstanding Project

CMS Corporation and the U.S. Government/Naval Facilities Engineering Command, Southeast were presented the Outstanding Project Award, given to the owner-contractor team demonstrating the most outstanding commitment to safety as well as an excellent statistical record on a particular project.

The scope of this project included the demolition and replacement of the existing concrete pile cap, wharf deck and utilities at Wharf C-2. The project included the removal of 30 existing timber piles by cutting or pulling with a crane, and the installation of 4,135 tons of various types of piles to serve different functions that included 282 single sheet piles, 124 king pile and 50 polymeric fender piles.

Other work consisted of:

Placing 450 tons of rebar
Pouring 30,000 cubic yards of concrete
Coordinating 3 cranes on site at project peak (2 landside cranes and a barge crane)
Performing extensive dewatering for excavations of 10-20 feet below sea floor

CMS also constructed a new fuel delivery system for this project.

At peak, CMS managed up to ten subcontractors, including a drew of up to 60 people, working on site concurrently. Overall, the CMS project team worked nearly 17,00 labor hours with zero lost time incidents.

Outstanding Craft Person Award

This award gives every CCS member company an opportunity to publicly honor a craftsperson who they believe warrants distinction. It is intended to honor employees who work in the field, up to the level of foreman.

John Apple – Gribbins Insulation
Ryan Beck – R. Adams Roofing
Ray Berlanga – Bowen Engineering
J.R. Christenberry – Gaylor Electric
Robert Conrad – Shiel Sexton
Greg Cullison – ERMCO
Jane Dillard – Weddle Bros. Construction
Shawn Fogle – AECOM Hunt
Jon Freeman – Solid Platforms
Casey Frye – Milestone Contractors
Jermiah Goff – Messer Construction
Rocky Guy – CBRE
Dave Hendry – Summit Construction
James Larkins – Finch Constructors
Brian Layman – Steinberger Construction
Brad Mace – Turner
Devin Matern – Dow AgroSciences
Ricky Mudd – I.U. Health University Hospital
Larry Pleak – I.U. Health Methodist Hospital
Justin Price – AAA Roofing Company
Kris Rice – Vectren
James Ross – Kennedy Tank
Rob Roys – RL Turner
Patrick Schaefer – Ideal Heating, AC & Refrigeration
Scott Shackelford – Smock Fansler
Matt Schrock – Blood Hound
Scott Siefert – BMWC Constructors
Glenn Snyder – Taylor Bros.
Scott Strain – Meyer Najem
Robby Surface – Tonn and Blank Construction
Bob Taylor – Harmon Steel
John Trump – Poynter
Scott Vannatta – Harmon Construction
Jacob Yoder – CMS Corporation
Tom Zimmermann – Industrial Electric

Zero Injury Award

The Zero Injury Award is given to companies whose craftspeople working for the company have not suffered a work related accident resulting in loss of consciousness, restriction of work or motion, transfer to another job or requiring medical treatment other than first-aid in the previous calendar year.