In a meeting room full of Ontario General Contractors Association members celebrating safety through various awards and recognition programs, a few firms celebrated multiple times.
The OGCA Safety Awards breakfast held in Mississauga Sept. 20 recognized safety and milestone award winners as well as newly inducted League of Champions members and firms that have achieved COR (Certificate of Recognition) certification in the past year.
Five firms — Brown Daniels Associates, Memme Infrastructure Contractors, M.J. Dixon Construction, Phoenix Restoration and Ritestart — were honoured as both League of Champion members and newly certified members of COR and thus received a hockey captain-style “C” to sew onto their League of Champions jerseys.
Anthony Naccarato, project coordinator at Memme and Jennifer Bekkers, safety coordinator for M.J. Dixon, represented their firms at the event. Both cited a simple, primary motivation for firms to get involved with COR.
“It’s the belief that everyone needs to go home safely, and to move our safety forward,” said Bekkers. “I was brought on to get us to COR certification and I came here last year and saw everyone with the League of Champions jerseys and thought, that’s a good initiative as well.”
Naccarato said he stepped forward to take on a bigger role in the certification program because it was important to the firm and he likes to be involved in varied company functions.
“I am a project coordinator, so that tells you how much everyone else was involved. Our site guys, our site supers, all the way up to upper level management,” he explained.
“It wasn’t an easy step, we had to be very conscientious and it was a team effort,” said Naccarato of the intense 12- to 18-month COR training program. “It is nice to be recognized at an event like this. COR was a big step for us.”
COR goes well beyond health and safety routines, said Naccarato, with every member of the firm learning not only to do their jobs more safely but thinking of ways to increase efficiency and productivity.
“There are a lot of benefits,” he explained. “The guys are working safer and we have less injuries. Take a look at equipment, we took an extra step and are maintaining equipment in a better way and we are looking at costs, we are doing things more efficiently and effectively to make our equipment run properly but also ensuring it is safe as well.”
Bekkers pointed out that the job is not done once COR certification is obtained. Audits to ensure standards are maintained are an important part of the program.
“Once you get COR it doesn’t mean you stay COR,” she said. “I think it is more work maintaining than achieving.
“Our guys do see the value but I don’t see the buy-in as much from subcontractors. That’s where it needs to filter so everyone buys in. When I go to sites our guys will be filling out their forms and wearing their vests, but it’s getting the subs to buy into it as well.”
Among the firms recognized with Safety Awards were the following special honourees:
Milestone — Over 500,000 hours worked: Aquicon Construction, Curran Contractors, Demik Construction, Matheson Constructors, Pomerleau and G.S. Wark.
Over 1 million hours worked: Buttcon, Gillam Group, Ira McDonald Construction, PCL Constructors Canada and Pomerleau.
Over 200,000 derived hours worked without an LTI over a three-year period: PCL Constructors Canada.
Between 100,000 and 200,000 derived hours worked without an LTI over a three-year period: Canadian Turner Construction Company.
Under 100,000 derived hours worked without an LTI over a three-year period: Demik.
Follow Don Wall on Twitter @DonWall_DCN.
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