It’s been an extremely challenging year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, with the guys in the field having to social distance, wear masks and work in specified work groups. Yet they rose to the occasion and accepted the challenge.
John Bland, BM-ST of Local 13, receives the John F. Erickson NACBE Safety Award on behalf of his lodge.
Northeast Area Local 13 (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) earned The John F. Erickson NACBE Safety Award, announced during the 2021 Construction Sector Operations virtual conference on May 26. This year’s award recognition looked a bit different than in the past due to the ongoing circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“It’s been an extremely challenging year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, with the guys in the field having to social distance, wear masks and work in specified work groups, said NACBE Executive Director Ron Traxler. “Yet they rose to the occasion and accepted the challenge.”
Traxler presented the overall 2020 safety index during the CSO conference. Statistics from 50 NACBE contractor organizations indicated good news, with most reports trending in the right direction. In year-to-year comparison, lost-time injury rates were down from 0.32 in 2019 to zero in 2020. The OSHA recordable rate was down to about half in 2020, at .59, from 1 in 2019. Compensable eye injuries were significantly down from 28 in 2019 to 9 in 2020. Meanwhile, the compensable injury rate went up slightly from 2.41 in 2019 to 2.74 in 2020.
L-13 BM-ST John Bland accepted the national safety award on the local’s behalf. In 2020, L-13 had zero OSHA recordable injuries in 336,581 total man-hours worked.
The National Association of Construction Boilermaker Employers recognizes local lodges annually for their members’ dedication to making and keeping their workplaces safe. They name one nationwide winner and one winner from each of the remaining U.S. sections. The awards are determined by the lowest injury rates followed by the highest percentage of Boilermaker man-hours worked for NACBE contractors participating in the NACBE safety index.
Sectional award winners were: Great Lakes—Local 374 (Dale/Hobart, Indiana); Southeast—Local 433 (Tampa, Florida) and Western States—Local 11 (East Helena, Montana).
