TDIndustries of Dallas, Texas, has earned one of the nation''s top industry awards for construction safety -- the AGC Construction Safety Excellence Award for Specialty Contractor with more than 200,000 safe work hours.
The award was presented to TDIndustries at the Associated General Contractors (AGC) national convention, held in Seattle, Wash.
According to Raleigh Roussell, president and CEO of AGC, "This award is very meaningful, not only because it recognizes TDIndustries'' excellent safety record, but it also recognizes the comprehensive, proactive safety program that TDIndustries has created which is a model for our industry."
Entrants for the award complete a rigorous pre-qualification process, including meeting specific OSHA standards, providing a comprehensive company safety program, and sustaining that commitment throughout all levels of the organization.
During 1999, out of 2.4 million worker hours, TDIndustries, a mechanical, plumbing and electrical construction company, experienced nine lost time injuries.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), this allows TDIndustries to record a lost time incident rate of 0.8. The average lost time incident rate nationwide for the plumbing, heating and air conditioning construction industry is 3.9, according to 1998 BLS.
The company''s OSHA recordable incident rate was 50 percent less than the year prior.
These are just some of TDIndustries'' notable safety statistics judged by independent third parties, including OSHA and Boeing Corp., for the AGC award.
The TDIndustries Policy Statement on Safety includes a companywide initiative to eliminate all accidents in the workplace and to provide a safe, secure and drug-free place of employment.
"Our commitment to each other, as employee-owners of TDIndustries is to continually redouble our efforts in the safety area and to strive for a zero-injury workplace," said Guy Albanese, the company''s safety director.
TDIndustries'' Risk Management team meets monthly and is responsible for overseeing the safety program at the company. The team consists of corporate safety partners, various superintendents, foremen and field partners for administration of the program.
The Risk Management teams'' budget is not a fixed annual amount. Senior management directs the team to spend whatever amount necessary to ensure safety.
The company''s three full-time safety partners meet with all superintendents 26 times annually.
New field partners receive a basic four-hour safety orientation before they arrive at the jobsite, an additional four hours of safety training within their first month as a TDPartner.
This initial thrust is supplemented with continuing safety education year-round related to specific jobsite tasks, such as confined space work, fall protection and electrical safety.
by Virginia Sutcliffe