Release Date: November 4, 2009
Contact: Contact Us
WASHINGTON, D.C.—The Risk Management
Team of Rosendin Electric, Inc., was presented with the Gary E. Bird Horizon
Award at the 29th IRMI Construction Risk Conference. Rosendin Chairman/CEO
Tom Sorley along with team members Sharon Barowsky and Marty Rouse accepted
the award on behalf of the team. The honor was bestowed on the group for
devising a safety program that focused on shifting the organization’s
attitude from “safety is someone else’s responsibility” to “safety is
everyone’s responsibility.” This culture shift produced tremendous results.
From 2006 to 2008, the organization’s workers compensation claims costs
shrunk by 50 percent, even though man-hours worked increased 51 percent and
the number of geographic locations where projects were under way doubled. As
a result, Rosendin saw its experience rating modification factor—which
reflects past losses and has a major impact on workers compensation
premiums—drop from .90 to .61 over that same time frame.
The Gary E. Bird Horizon Award is presented annually by IRMI to recognize
a demonstrated commitment to improving construction risk management through
the implementation of innovative, cost-effective, and efficient risk
management techniques.
The panel of industry experts selected by IRMI to judge the award
submissions made insightful comments about the winning submission. “This is
an outstanding program! The organization took a very comprehensive proactive
approach that could be easily used by others in the construction industry,"
offered one judge. Another judge remarked that "No fancy data bases, not a
marked increase in safety staff, seems these measures implemented are
relatively low in cost but drive great cost savings!" A third judge
commented, "The dramatic results in declining losses as well as insurance
premium savings clearly demonstrate the 'dividends earned’ in making the
investment in a safety culture."
The other finalists for the award were Jim Van Briesen, Tim Jagielski,
Loren Whitney, Julie Vernetti, Casey Long, and Lynn Ulrich, the Risk
Management Department of William Charles Construction Company; Allan M.
Yokoyama, Safety Administrator, on behalf of Albert C. Kobayashi, Inc.;
Jennifer Mays, Director of Risk Management, Shawmut Design and Construction;
and Stan Burton, Project Superintendent, and Tyran Shivers, Project Manager,
Turner Construction Company, and Eddie Dyer, Project Manager, Jacobs
Engineering Group Inc.
The 30th IRMI Construction Risk Conference will be held November 7–11,
2010, in Nashville, TN. For more information, visit
www.IRMI.com or contact
International Risk Management Institute, Inc.
(IRMI) at 12222 Merit Drive, Suite 1600, Dallas, TX, 75251, phone
800–827–4242, in Dallas, 972–960–7693, or fax 972–371–5120.