2020 NUCA Safety Award Overall Winner: TEAM Construction
EDITOR’S NOTE: SafetyWORKS is a new column highlighting NUCA’s William H. Feather Safety Awards winners. If you would like to be considered for these prestigious NUCA 2021 awards, please submit your entry by the end of December 2021. Award details can be found at nuca.com/safetyawards.
For a company to win the utility construction industry’s top safety award takes commitment. That’s a commitment over 12 months to promote safety on multiple job sites with many moving parts and players – including employees and subcontractors alike.
NUCA member TEAM Construction finds that their secret of corporate accomplishment is found in three critical areas: Safety. Safety. And Safety.
That consistent target for success delivered them the industry’s pinnacle award in safety, the 2020 Overall Winner of NUCA’s William H. Feather Safety Award.
Utility Contractor asked TEAM’s executives the composition of their winning commitment to safety.
Safety is an attitude that starts with the company’s owner and president, Donnie Mingus, and it permeates the actions of every TEAM employee. “Before the first ditch is dug and before the first pipe is put in place, we’ve already laid the groundwork for a safe and secure environment on the jobsite,” said chief safety officer Matt Mingus, the owner’s son.
That commitment to safety starts with each employee. Before any new employee works on a client’s jobsite, TEAM provides online and hands-on training from the OQ director, Steve Shelby. Shelby also works with the company’s experienced employees who seek further qualifications in industry-specific skills. Routine safety training for all 60 company employees also guarantees TEAM workers are up to date on the safest procedures when working in the field.
Impromptu visits by TEAM’s safety directors Mingus and Dave Doggette ensure crews meet or exceed OSHA safety standards. Since the beginning of the year, TEAM has added two new safety managers Chad Wingham and Rydell Mayes. Every employee is accountable for jobsite safety, and rewarded for their diligence by the company’s Safety Contest.
TEAM has been a strong annual participant in industry safety events like NUCA’s Trench Safety Stand Down. Over the past few years, the company has sent 170 of its employees to a NUCA Excavation Safety and Competent Person training program.
Since the company was founded in 2002, leadership has provided a comprehensive safety manual in English and Spanish that is reviewed with every employee, and enforced by the safety directors. And while OSHA always requires just one competent individual on all jobsites, TEAM always has two competent individuals with each crew on every job site.
Safety works when taught, practiced, enforced, and supported by the company. Safety First, TEAM’s number one value, resulted in 2020 with 360,900 man-hours worked with zero lost time injuries, and a top industry experience modification rate of .64. Five vehicle accidents, three worker compensation claims, and three reportable OSHA 300 accidents made up the total 2020 safety incidents, which also included a report of no fatalities, no disabling injuries, and an almost-zero incident rate of recordable accidents.
NUCA was proud to award TEAM Construction the 2020 William H. Feather Overall Safety Award at our 2021 convention, witnessed by their peers. We know because of TEAM’s executive support and a constant company commitment to safety that their men and women on the job are in good hands each day.
Tags: May June 2021 Print Issue, Safety WORKSRobert Baylor is NUCA’s Director of Communications.