Rummel Construction Inc.
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America's Safest Companies: Rummel Construction Inc.

April 7, 2016
The 16 companies on the 2015 list of America's Safest Companies represent a broad array of industries: construction, manufacturing, utilities, oil and gas and more.

Rummel Construction sees prevention as a way of life.

Because most of Rummel Construction's operations take place in the desert southwest where temperatures rise above 100 degrees, the heavy-civil general contractor identifies heat-related illness as a major operational risk.

To combat that, Rummel has developed its own heat illness prevention program, which involves training, communication, supervision and emergency procedures.

"Safety excellence isn't just getting to zero; it's knowing and doing what it takes to duplicate and continually improve upon our success," says Steve Lopez, senior safety officer for Rummel.

Rummel has a workspace management aspect to its safety system. That involves planning, scheduling and coordinating activity to prevent collisions between heavy equipment, vehicles and people.

"Although some of its elements are accepted industry practices, our program consolidates them into a functioning synergistic process," Lopez says.

Before becoming a supervisor, employees must complete safety leadership training. This one-day training with the safety department serves to inform the new supervisors and to lay groundwork for a relationship with the safety department.

Supervisors also lead daily safety meetings before each shift and hold weekly health and safety program manual training. During the safety manual training, they cover a pre-selected section of the manual, which serves to reinforce materials to supervisors and employees.

"We believe safety is an integral part of the production process, and as such must never be jeopardized under the pretense of operational necessity," Lopez says.

Rummel Construction Inc.
Scottsdale, Ariz.
370 employees/3 EHS professionals
Heavy-civil general contractor

About the Author

Sandy Smith

Sandy Smith is the former content director of EHS Today, and is currently the EHSQ content & community lead at Intelex Technologies Inc. She has written about occupational safety and health and environmental issues since 1990.

About the Author

Ginger Christ | Associate Editor

Ginger Christ is an associate editor for EHS Today, a Penton publication.

She has covered business news for the past seven years, working at daily and weekly newspapers and magazines in Ohio, including the Dayton Business Journal and Crain’s Cleveland Business.

Most recently, she covered transportation and leadership for IndustryWeek, a sister publication to EHS Today.

She holds a bachelor of arts in English and in Film Studies from the University of Pittsburgh.

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