Full article: More than 180 AISC Members Receive 2023 Safety Awards
Informed Infrastructure
Feb. 26, 2024
CHICAGO – The American Institute of Steel Construction is honoring more than 180 structural steel fabricators and erectors for their outstanding safety records in 2023. And the majority of this year’s Safety Award recipients will get the Safety Award of Honor, AISC’s top safety honor.
“Avoiding accidents is not an accident,” said AISC Senior Director of Engineering Tom Schlafly. “Structural steel fabrication shops and construction sites are busy places with many activities occurring simultaneously. Skill, experience, and planning are required to accomplish those activities safely. AISC is proud of those companies whose employees worked through 2023 with few or no Days Away, Restricted or Transfer (DART) injuries.”
AISC relies on DART rates that companies also report to OHSA to determine safety award recipients. The DART rate measures the number of recordable lost work cases per 200,000 hours worked. AISC bases the awards on cases, not days, as reported to OSHA on the 300A form, along with the hours worked in the year.
AISC presents a Safety Award of Honor to fabricators and erectors with perfect records. Those with excellent records (0<DART≤1) earn a Safety Award of Merit, and Safety Commendations recognize companies with DARTs greater than one and less than or equal to two.
“I’m encouraged to see more companies make safety a priority at all levels of their company,” said AISC Safety Committee Chair John Schuepbach of Phoenix Solutions Group International. “Prioritizing safety enhances productivity, bottom line profits, employee-company relationships, and reputation, and is a key factor in creating a sustainable workplace. We are pleased to see that many companies are aware of these broad benefits of prioritizing safety within their workplace and in the field. We appreciate these companies’ dedication to protecting their employees and keeping them healthy.”
The safety awards program is open to all AISC member fabricators and erectors, and applications for the program are solicited annually. Awards are issued separately for fabrication and erection companies. To win an award, the AISC member company must submit a copy of their OSHA 300A form for verification purposes.
AISC features Safety Award recipients online, in the April issue of Modern Steel Construction, and at NASCC: The Steel Conference–which incorporates SafetyCon. The 2024 Steel Conference and SafetyCon are set to take place in San Antonio March 20 to 22.
SafetyCon’s 13 sessions focus on crucial topics like mental health and suicide prevention, OSHA’s lockout/tagout standard, how to prepare for and manage an OSHA inspection, and much more.
Lexicon earned
For more information and resources on safety for the fabricated and erected structural steel industry, visit aisc.org/safety.
Lexicon, Inc. and its divisions earned five safety awards for outstanding safety in 2023. Each of the following divisions of Lexicon earned AISC’s steel fabricators Safety Award of Merit for having a Days Away, Restricted or Transfer (DART) injuries rate of less than 1.0.
- Custom Metals – Little Rock, Ark.
- Lexicon Industrial Constructors – Little Rock, Ark.
- Prospect Steel – Armorel, Ark.
- Prospect Steel – Little Rock, Ark.
- Steel Fabricators of Monroe – Monroe, La.