Construction Industry Leaders Honored for Unparalleled On-Site Safety.

Zero Injury Safety Awards Experience Record Year

ARLINGTON, Va. -- The construction industry has the highest rate of on-the-job fatalities (nearly 50 percent of all fatal injuries), so it is exceptional that construction's most prestigious safety award is honoring 9,810,227 injury-free work hours in 2006 logged under National Maintenance Agreement. The Zero Injury Safety Awards (ZISA), which is sponsored by the National Maintenance Agreements Policy Committee, will acknowledge a record 62 winners for ensuring a safe workplace in the most dangerous profession in the U.S.

This year's top award - The Gold Star - goes to the Superior Construction Company, working with the Northwest Building Trades Council at BP's Whiting Refinery in Whiting, Ind. This group put together a string of 1,329,000 hours without a recordable incident. Collecting Silver Star Awards were Cherne Contracting Corp. and the United Building Trades Council of Southern New Jersey at the Sonoco's Eagle Point Refinery in Westville, N.J., and Fru-Con Construction Corp. and the Cedar Rapids Building Trades Council for work performed at the Proctor and Gamble Iowa City Plant. Cherne rang up more than 800,000 injury-free hours and Fru-Con more than 700,000 to claim their Silver Stars.

"Ten million injury-free work hours is truly a tribute to all of the owners, contractors and craftspeople who put safety at the very top of their list," said NMAPC Impartial Secretary Steve Lindauer.

Eight Bronze Star winners ranged between 400,000 and 200,000 hours of safe work, and 51 more owners, contractors, and craftspeople put up impressive totals that resulted in Merit Awards. The common approach to safety by all of those receiving recognition is they are committed to the concept that all injuries can be prevented. Successful contractors share the philosophy that just because injuries can occur does not mean that they must occur. This approach has been termed the "Zero Injury Concept" by the NMAPC.

"BP is very proud of the safety performance demonstrated by its contractor work force at the Whiting Refinery," said Gary Neidermeier of BP Products North America, Inc. "During the last eight years this group has totaled almost 20 million man hours without work incident or injury. This Gold Star Award is further testament to both the importance and priority that BP places on personal and process safety."

The National Maintenance Agreement is a labor-management tool that delivers up to 14 different skilled trades to a jobsite under one agreement. It is commonplace in many of the country's largest industrial or manufacturing settings.

Workers performing under the NMA's Zero Injury Concept often say they have never worked on a safer job. Those on the management side will tell you a Zero Injury Program in place pays for itself many times over.

This year's award ceremony will be held on October 25th at the National Building Museum in downtown Washington, DC.