The EHS Daily Advisor Safety Standout Awards recognize companies and safety professionals who excel in making their workplaces safe. We are proud to announce our latest round of award winners, who will be recognized for their accomplishments at the upcoming 2019 Safety Summit!
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These awards are sponsored by SafeStart, the most successful safety training process in the world for developing personal, 24/7 safety skills—proven to reduce injuries on average 50%. SafeStart has trained over 3 million people at more than 3,000 companies and 10,000 sites in over 60 countries and is available in 32 languages.
You can see the winners receive their awards during a ceremony at the beginning of Day 2 of the 2019 Safety Summit, taking place April 8-10 in Austin, Texas! Read on to learn more about these fantastic companies and individuals.
Best Overall Safety Program Award: The Great Lakes Construction Co.
The Great Lakes Construction Co. has been in business since 1948 and is one of Ohio’s premier Heavy Civil construction firms. Great Lakes’ success and reputation has evolved from their focus on highway and bridge projects, water and wastewater treatment plants, industrial plants, environmental, site development, deep foundations, structural concrete, concrete paving, utility, noisewall, demolition, and the emerging oil & gas market. Our employee-owned team, which is comprised heavily of engineers and construction graduates—including 19 professional engineers—oversees a field operations workforce of over 500 union craftspeople.
Great Lakes believes safety takes the highest priority and as a result, we take a very proactive approach in providing a safe work environment. The bottom line for Great Lakes is preventing accidents and injuries. Our dedication to safety has allowed Great Lakes to be self-insured for workers compensation in the State of Ohio since 1976.
The Great Lakes Way … Safe. Capable. Efficient.
Accepting the award for the Great Lakes Construction Co. is William Hocevar—who is also the recipient of BLR’s Lifetime Achievement in Safety Award!
BLR’s Lifetime Achievement in Safety Award: William Hocevar CSP, CIH
William Hocevar is a certified safety professional and certified industrial hygienist with 20 years of experience in safety. During his time at The Great Lakes Construction Co. (he is currently the Director of Risk and Compliance, a position he has held since January 2016), Bill has been chosen to speak at the national level for various organizations, has been named Safety Professional of the Year, led his company to be named “America’s Safest Company,” and been named The Best in the Nation for Safety Programs and Implementation.
Bill has chaired Ohio’s AGC Safety Committee, holds a Board of Directors seat for several safety associations, has been appointed by Ohio’s Speaker of the House to the Underground Technical Committee, is the Chair for the Construction Safety Council Alliance, and was on the Laborers Local 860 Apprentice Advisory Committee. He serves as an instructor at the Ohio BWC as well as an adjunct professor at Lakeland Community College and Kent State, teaching construction safety, industrial hygiene, and construction law.
Innovations in Safety Training Award: Northwell Health
Northwell Health is New York State’s largest health care provider and private employer, with 23 hospitals and 700 outpatient facilities. They care for more than two million people annually in the metro New York area and beyond, thanks to philanthropic support from their communities. Northwell Health’s 68,000 employees—15,000-plus nurses and about 4,000 physicians, part of Northwell Health Physician Partners—are working to change health care for the better. They’re making breakthroughs in medicine at the Feinstein Institute as well as training the next generation of medical professionals at the visionary Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell and the School of Graduate Nursing and Physician Assistant Studies.
Northwell Health’s Workforce Safety team stresses safety and advocacy as the cornerstones of their foundation, the driving force behind their efforts, and the key components of their mission that they live everyday. Safety and Workers’ Compensation programs are viewed as an investment in the long term health, safety, and engagement of employees.
The first, and perhaps most important value that Northwell Health’s Workforce Safety team brings to employees is the focus on efforts to ensure a safe environment for their customers/patients, visitors, and employees. They have enriched their safety training with new and innovative ideas, and have improved on their ability to ensure employee safety with enhanced programs in safe patient handling, industrial hygiene, workplace violence, and ergonomics.
Accepting the award for Northwell Health is Paul M. Power.
 Paul M Power, EMT-P is the Director of Operations for the Workforce Safety Department at Northwell Health System. Paul and the Workforce Safety team have each year been able to lower the experience modification rate, resulting over a 15 % reduction in three years. Paul’s primary focus is worker safety, leading programs in fall reduction and safe patient handling. Paul is a paramedic by trade with an extensive background in injury prevention and absence management. Paul has also served as an Assistant Director for Northwell Health CEMS, one of the largest hospital-based EMS services in the country, and directed their safety programs in addition to being appointed Safety Officer for one of Northwell’s hospitals. With over 30 years of dedicated service to the emergency services and safety field, he has encountered some of the most dangerous and unsafe conditions one could imagine. Based upon those experiences, the safety of his team has always been his number one priority. Paul has taken his experience and knowledge and applied them to the implementation of training programs offered to over 60,000 employees at Northwell, personally designing numerous safety devices that have saved countless healthcare professionals and patients from serious injury. |
Young Safety Professional Excellence Award: Melanie Mayer, CSP
Melanie Mayer is Quality and Compliance Manager at Haws Corporation, where she is an innovative and forward-thinking individual who has cultivated a strong safety culture. With an extensive background in environmental health, she has succeeded at developing and executing effective safety and compliance procedures in her four-year tenure at Haws. Melanie holds a Bachelor of Science in Environmental and Occupational Health from California State University Northridge, and is pursuing a Master of Science in Industrial Hygiene from Montana Tech. She is also a Certified Safety Professional, NSC First Aid Instructor, Certified Six Sigma Green and Black Belt, and PMP.
Globally headquartered in Sparks, Nevada, Haws Corporation invents, manufactures, and builds hydration equipment as well as standardized and customized emergency response products. With more than 8,000 distribution locations and 250 employees worldwide, Haws continually focuses on quality, service, reliability, and complete solution support. Plumbing and safety environments are always evolving, and Haws is redefining expectations, just as it has done for more than 100 years.
Congratulations!
Please join us in congratulating all of our Safety Standout Award winners on their well-deserved recognition as leaders in the safety field!
There’s still time to register for our 2019 Safety Summit—we hope you will be there to help us celebrate the accomplishments of these organizations and professionals in person. In addition to our awards ceremony, there will be a wide variety of educational sessions, speakers, and events tailored to assisting your development as an EHS professional. Register today—seats are filling up fast!
