Contact: Jeff Leieritz (202) 905-2104              [email protected]

For Immediate Release

FORT LAUDERDALE, FLA., March 3 – Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) today announced the winners of its 2015 National Safety Excellence Awards. A total of 41 ABC member companies were recognized for their safety processes and performance on March 2 during the 26th annual Excellence in Construction® Awards in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

“Associated Builders and Contractors is pleased to honor our members who prove that world-class safety is achievable with a company-wide commitment to safety as a core value,” said 2016 ABC National Chair David Chapin, president of Willmar Electric Service, Lincoln, Neb. “These companies share ABC’s goal of getting to zero-incident jobsites and sending every employee home safely each and every day.”

The 2015 National Safety Excellence Award winners were selected from ABC member firms that achieved Diamond, Platinum and Gold status in ABC's Safety Training Evaluation Process (STEP) in 2015. During the selection process, they were judged on self-evaluation scores, lost workday case rates, total recordable rates, leading indicator use, process and program innovations and video interviews conducted by members of ABC’s National Environment, Health & Safety Committee.

STEP is the standard for developing world-class safety programs in construction and is designed to help both large and small contractors evaluate every aspect of their corporate safety and health program and identify opportunities for improvement. In 2015 ABC published its first Safety Performance Report, which documented that the average STEP Diamond company is 720 percent safer than average, based on its total recordable incidence rate compared to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ average for the entire industry.

The National Safety Excellence Awards are presented in three major North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code categories: NAICS 236 – Construction of Buildings; NAICS 237 – Heavy and Civil Engineering Construction; and NAICS 238 – Specialty Trade Contractors. See a complete list of winners on ABC’s website.