America's Safest Companies 2025: B.L. Harbert International
Editor's Note: The 2025 class of America's Safety Companies will be recognized Tuesday, October 21, during the Safety Leadership Conference 2025 in Glendale, Ariz. More information about the conference, including registration, can be found at www.safetyleadershipconference.com.
B.L. Harbert International
Construction
Birmingham, AL
885 employees | 38 sites | 30 EHS professionals
When it comes to safety, construction firm B.L. Harbert International has a simple, no-nonsense perspective: “We expect and require that each employee treat safety as the most important part of their job, each and every day,” explains Frank Wampol, vice president, safety and health.
“Our belief is that planning for safety—being sensitive to our environment, properly training, equipping and empowering our workforce, as well as consistent accountability from the top to the bottom of our organization—is essential to our safety culture and our overall success,” Wampol says.
The company, which previous won the America’s Safest Companies award in 2014, has built its safety and health program upon the foundation of three key elements: management commitment, servant leadership, and a culture of caring.
Safety is deeply ingrained in each employee’s training from the moment they join the company. On-site, each worker is empowered and expected to identify and correct hazards from day one, Wampol explains. “Field level workers make up our site safety committees. They see their ideas put into action and are recognized for their efforts. Site safety committee findings feed corporate safety for inclusion in future safety policy and programs company-wide.”
With falls-from-height and fatal falls a continuing concern for construction workers, in 2024 B.L. Harbert initiated a partnership with Associated Builders and Contractors, Academy of Craft Training, and 3M to bring to the Birmingham, Ala., region a fall protection and confined space training facility to benefit all contractors in the Southeast. The company has also partnered with 3M DBI-Sala to develop a construction fall rescue training program utilizing the 3M R550 rescue system. According to Wampol, this fall rescue training has been deployed at multiple high-rise jobsites.
Sustainable construction is an important component of B.L. Harbert’s philosophy, as the company looks at each project as a whole—from design to completion—to identify areas where they can reduce their impact on the environment while remaining fiscally responsible. To date, the company has completed over $4 billion in green construction.
“Our executive management’s stated philosophy when it comes to safety is, ‘There are no logos or egos,’” Wampol points out. “Safety-wise, B.L. Harbert is an open book sharing safety polices, procedures and best practices with many other contractors.” He notes that the company’s safety professionals teach at regional OSHA Education Centers, serve on regional and national safety committees, and provide training on “hot-button” topics like mental health to numerous contractors and through various industry associations.
