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.