Stellar, an architecture, engineering, construction and mechanical services firm, has earned the Associated Builders and Contractors' (ABC) highest national safety designation for 2011-the Safety Training Evaluation Process (STEP) Diamond-level award. Stellar was the only contractor in the Florida First Coast Chapter (with more than 140 member companies), and one of only four in Florida, to earn Diamond status.
There are six levels of STEP achievement: Participant, Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum, and Diamond. Member companies that achieve Diamond status-a new level established just last year-are an elite group. More than 2,100 ABC contractor members applied for the STEP program in 2011, with just 94 members achieving STEP Diamond status.
"Our most important goal is to send our employees and subcontractors home safe to their families, every day," said Philip Hinrichs, Stellar's Vice President of Risk Management. "That's why we develop a job-specific safety plan for each and every project and perform safety audits on a regular basis. We're proud to see these efforts recognized."
Stellar has achieved STEP certification 16 years in a row. Now widely accepted as the construction industry's standard measure of safety performance, the STEP awards were established in 1989 to evaluate and improve safety practices and recognize outstanding safety efforts. The award criteria include two industry benchmarks-the experience modification rate (EMR), which is applied to workers' compensation premiums, and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration's (OSHA) recordable injury and illness incidence rates (measured by the number of incidents per 100 employees per year).
STEP Diamond recipients must have long-term records of exceptional safety performance, with EMRs at or below 0.7 (a significantly lower rate than the national average of 1.0) and average incidence rates at least 50 percent below construction industry averages. EMRs, developed by the insurance industry, are based on comparisons of firms doing similar types of work. Lower rates, meaning that fewer or less-severe accidents occurred, result in lower insurance costs. BD+C
Related Stories
| Jul 1, 2014
7 ways to cut waste in BIM implementation
Process mapping, split models, and streamlined coordination meetings are among the timesaving techniques AEC firms are employing to improve BIM/VDC workflows.
| Jul 1, 2014
Winning design by 3XN converts modernist bathhouse to university library
Danish firm 3XN's design wins competition for a new educational facility for Mälardalen University in Sweden, which will house a library, communal spaces, and offices for 4,500 students and staff.
| Jul 1, 2014
Zaha Hadid's flowing Heydar Aliyev Center named Design of the Year for 2014
The Design Museum's Design of the Year award has been awarded to Zaha Hadid's Heydar Aliyev Center. Hadid is not only the first woman to win the top prize, but the center is the first architectural project to win the overall competition.
| Jun 30, 2014
Autodesk acquires design studio The Living, will create Autodesk Studio
The Living, David Benjamin's design studio, has been acquired by Autodesk. Combined, the two will create the Autodesk Studio, which will "create new types of buildings, public installations, prototypes and architectural environments."
| Jun 30, 2014
San Antonio green lights multimodal transit center
The new 90,000-sf development will principally service San Antonio’s growing network of city bus and VIA PRIMO bus rapid transit service, including real-time arrival updates, as well as become an iconic public plaza for the city.
| Jun 30, 2014
Philip Johnson’s iconic World's Fair 'Tent of Tomorrow' to receive much needed restoration funding
A neglected Queens landmark that once reflected the "excitement and hopefulness" at the beginning of the Space Age may soon be restored.
| Jun 30, 2014
Research finds continued growth of design-build throughout United States
New research findings indicate that for the first time more than half of projects above $10 million are being completed through design-build project delivery.
| Jun 30, 2014
Narrow San Francisco lots to be developed into micro-units
As a solution to San Francisco’s density and low housing supply compared to demand, local firms Build Inc. and Macy Architecture each are to build micro-unit housing in a small parcel of land in Hayes Valley.
| Jun 30, 2014
Arup's vision of the future of rail: driverless trains, maintenance drones, and automatic freight delivery
In its Future of Rail 2050 report, Arup reveals a vision of the future of rail travel in light of trends such as urban population growth, climate change, and emerging technologies.
| Jun 30, 2014
4 design concepts that remake the urban farmer's market
The American Institute of Architects held a competition to solve the farmer's markets' biggest design dilemma: lightweight, bland canopies that although convenient, does not protect much from the elements.
