At MYR Group, safety is a core value deeply embedded in our culture, which has shown immensely across our subsidiaries. This month, the National Electrical Contractors Association (NECA) recognized five of our subsidiaries for Safety Excellence and Zero Injury achievements: E.S. Boulos, Harlan Electric, L.E. Myers, Sturgeon Electric, and Sturgeon Electric California.

NECA announced its association’s premier recognition program and acknowledged contractor’s safety performance on April 24. Thirteen districts across these four MYR Group subsidiaries earned Safety Excellence achievements, and four districts earned Zero Injury recognition for their 2022 achievements.

Accomplishing Safety Excellence and Zero Injury is an incredible achievement that has been a company-wide focus, and implementation throughout our districts. Consistently working towards a common goal, safety is emphasized through strong communication and diligence-driven work, which is why it is important to have seasoned, experienced, qualified crew foremen and a stable workforce. Our safety department helps manage cases and identify issues before they become an injury or incidents. This supports our district’s ability to keep a stable workflow and procedural process to ensure alignment of expectations.

Safety Excellence Winners:

• E.S. Boulos: Westbrook, Auburn, MA districts
• Sturgeon Electric: Phoenix, AZ; Tucson, AZ; Denver, CO; Henderson, CO; Salt Lake City, UT
• Sturgeon Electric California: Chino, CA district
• Harlan Electric: Windham, NH district
• L.E. Myers: Rural Hall, NC; Indianapolis, IN; Chattanooga, TN districts

Zero-Injury Winners:

• E.S. Boulos: Auburn, MA district
• Harlan Electric: Windham, NH district
• L.E. Myers: Rural Hall, NC; Indianapolis, IN districts

Congratulations To All!

NECA’s Recognition of Safety Achievement program is an elite safety recognition focused on recognizing thriving companies that excel in multiple areas of their safety and health programs. Member companies that consistently have OSHA recordable injury and fatality rates at levels lower than the industry standard and implement internal company safety practices above and beyond basic compliance will often receive the recognition.

Congratulations to all our districts on your achievement and for keeping safety at the root of our company.

See all the 2023 Winners

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The letters were all too familiar, as was the face – defined by a kind smile framed by a mustache – peering back at him. Despite knowing this face and that name better than anyone in the world, Sturgeon Electric’s senior vice president of Colorado commercial and industrial couldn’t process what he was seeing at first.

“They had everything on the big screen and then my name came up on the screen,” Greenhalge remembers weeks later from his office with the same friendly smile and mustache. “And I thought, ‘This has to be a mistake.’”

But it wasn’t a mistake. Or an accident. Just the culmination of years committed to safety and doing whatever was necessary to maintain one of Sturgeon Electric’s most proud accomplishments – maintaining STAR status in OSHA’s Voluntary Protection Programs, better known as VPP.

And thanks to his dedication, going above and beyond to keep Sturgeon Electric the standard for safety in the region, VPP named Greenhalge as its Region VIII 2021 Leader of the Year at the regional conference in Cheyenne, Wyo. in May.

Sturgeon Electric also received two Decades of Excellence awards at the event, one for its transmission and distribution division and another for its commercial and industrial division, overseen by Greenhalge.

Keeping his nomination under wraps was a shared effort across the Sturgeon Electric safety team and the payoff was worth it.

“A few of us heard rumors about it,” safety engineer Dan Hart said. “But the best part was seeing the look on his face when they announced his name. That was fantastic.”

Greenhalge reaches back and snags the Leader of the Year plaque from its perch just behind his desk. The award itself is simple but elegant with transparent glass set in wood, his name etched into its face. But it’s the name below his that means more to Greenhalge. Sturgeon Electric.

Because to understand and appreciate Greenhalge’s recognition is to understand and appreciate all it took for the company to remain in good standing with VPP over 14 years, a notoriously picky and demanding organization.

“When I think of all (former regional safety manager) Chuck Soderquist put in, I don’t hold a candle to that,” Greenhalge said. “It was absolutely a shock. But it was also a team award, a group effort. It was no one person for sure. I told them that day, ‘this award is for all of us.’”

Sturgeon Electric’s VPP story began 14 years ago, first achieving STAR status – VPP’s highest grade reserved for companies that demonstrate “exemplary achievement” in health and safety – in 2008. But if achieving STAR status is challenging, maintaining it is downright rigorous.

Surgical onsite evaluations, three-year audits, and an ongoing renewal process demand that every VPP STAR company remain at the tip of the spear or get dropped. This makes leadership commitment to safety and the program essential.

Time, money, and other resources must be dedicated to continue meeting VPP’s ever-changing criteria. For example, Sturgeon Electric now has dedicated safety personnel to address industrial hygiene and adopted PPE that allows them to detect silica in the air and closely monitor decibel levels on job sites.

“The most important thing for maintaining VPP status is the manager buy-in, and I don’t think there’s a person in Sturgeon Electric management that doesn’t participate, from (MYR Group president and CEO) Rick (Swartz) down,” Hart said. “It’s amazing to have that support.”

Hart (himself having been voted onto the Region VIII board of directors, taking over for regional safety manager Zachary Valdez) has seen firsthand just how far safety has come in his nearly 20 years working for Sturgeon Electric, from rarely seeing hard hats and safety glasses used back in the day to now seeing employees required to wear silica-detecting alarms on their vests.

And make no mistake, Sturgeon Electric’s involvement with VPP over the better part of two decades is a large reason why. Which is what makes winning not one, but two Decades of Excellence awards for both workforce divisions so special, if not practically unheard of for a mobile workforce spread across the country.

“Winning the Decades of Excellence awards is absolutely a big deal,” Greenhalge said. “Receiving those Decades of Excellence awards, you rarely see that in VPP because it is so hard to stay in STAR status with OSHA. When you get those awards, you look around the group and see how proud they are of what they maintained.”

The group. You can’t talk about Sturgeon Electric’s VPP STAR status with Greenhalge without the group coming up. The company sent 17 people to the Cheyenne event, another subtle clue to just how dedicated leadership is to the program.

For a few days, it wasn’t about “working” or making money, but about enjoying the well-deserved recognition born from countless hours going just that one step further.

Because after 14 years – and all the bumps, bruises, and achievements along the way – there is no going back.

“Our people count on us to be the best, and if we were to get suspended from VPP, that would be devastating to all those people who’ve strived so hard to remain in it,” Greenhalge said. “For both T&D and C&I to maintain STAR status for 14 years is huge. “Our employees work hard for that status, and they want to make sure we don’t lose it.”

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Safety is life at MYR Group, and it shows across our subsidiaries. This month, three of our subsidiaries were recognized for safety excellence by the National Electrical Contractors Association (NECA): E.S. Boulos, The L.E. Myers Co., and Sturgeon Electric.

At the NECA 2022 Safety Professionals Conference which took place this week in Arizona, seven districts across three MYR Group subsidiaries earned Safety Excellence recognitions. Five districts across the same subsidiaries also earned Zero Injury recognition. Winners were announced on May 17, during the conference.

“We are honored to be recognized by NECA again this year with awards for Safety Excellence and Zero Injuries,” said James Foley, MYR Group’s vice president of safety operations. “Congratulations to our subsidiaries and many thanks for representing MYR Group and the safety culture we have established.”

2022 Safety Excellence Winners:

• E.S. Boulos: Auburn, Maine district
• L.E. Myers: Indianapolis, Ind., Marshalltown, Iowa and Chattanooga, Tenn. districts
• Sturgeon Electric: Phoenix, Ariz., Tucson, Ariz., and Henderson, Colo. districts

2022 Zero Injury Winners:

• E.S. Boulos: Auburn, Maine
• L.E. Myers: Indianapolis, Ind., Marshalltown, Iowa and Chattanooga, Tenn.
• Sturgeon Electric: Tucson, Ariz.

Both recognitions of achievement are part of NECA’s elite safety recognition program that assesses companies that excel in multiple areas of safety and health. The program recognizes member companies that have consistently lower OSHA recordable injury and fatality rates and implement internal safety practices that go above and beyond basic compliance.

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The L.E. Meyers Co. (L.E. Myers) Chattanooga District and Sturgeon Electric Company, Inc. (Sturgeon Electric) Colorado District have maintained STAR status through the VPP, an OSHA initiative that promotes workplace health and safety.

To determine a company’s eligibility, OSHA conducts an extensive evaluation of jobsite safety, policies and procedures, safety protocols, and training. Companies that meet the program’s stringent criteria receive STAR status, the VPP’s highest award.

Specifically, the VPP recognizes employers and employees for developing and implementing continuous improvement in workplace safety and health management programs that result in injury/illness rates below the national average. Careful attention is paid to efforts related to hazard prevention and control, worksite analysis, proper training, and teamwork between the company’s management group and workforce.

EXCELLENCE IS TEAM EFFORT

Maintaining the highest level of safety excellence is a difficult, extensive undertaking that takes team effort, L.E. Meyers and Sturgeon Electric leaders say. Recertification requires teamwork, coordination, and dedication and every team member plays a key role. They also give a shout out to the individuals who worked closely with the OSHA inspectors throughout the audit, noting that their commitment and devotion led to each district’s success.

“By granting STAR status, OSHA has made a public statement that they trust Sturgeon to lead the industry to a better place regarding employee health and safety,” C&I Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Jeff Waneka says.

As one of our core values, Safety has become instilled in everything we do, says L.E. Myers District Manager Jayson Scali.

“I don’t think our team looks at VPP or our safety program as something we have to ‘get ready for,’” Scali says. “We truly have an environment that has been created here allowing us to just manage our business and this is just a part of how we do business.”

CERTIFICATION SIGNIFICANCE By maintaining VPP STAR certification year over year, L.E. Myers and Sturgeon Electric demonstrate to our clients, prospects, and employees that the health and safety of our people is our No. 1 priority. We actively prove that we are among the best in the industry through our actions, behaviors, and commitments to achieving top-tier safety performance. STAR status instills confidence in our clients, prospects, and employees that we constantly strive keep our people and worksites as safe as possible.

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Numerous MYR Group Inc. (MYR Group) subsidiaries take part in NECA’s Recognition of Safety Achievement program, which recognizes and awards companies that excel in the field of health and safety. The program examines company OSHA records, safety practices and policies, and overall compliance levels. The awards are divided into two categories: Zero Injury and Safety Excellence.

ACHIEVEMENT OF ZERO INJURY AWARDS

The following district operations were recognized with Achievement of Zero Injury Awards:

• The E.S. Boulos Company (E.S. Boulos) Auburn, ME;
• Harlan Electric Company (Harlan Electric) Rochester Hills, MI;
• Huen Electric (Huen) East Syracuse, NY;
• The L.E. Myers Co. (L.E. Myers) Chattanooga, TN; and
• Sturgeon Electric Company, Inc. (Sturgeon Electric) Anchorage, AK.

ACHIEVEMENT IN SAFETY EXCELLENCE

The following district operations earned Recognition of Achievement in Safety Excellence:

• E.S. Boulos Auburn, ME and Westbrook, ME;
• Harlan Electric Rochester Hills;
• High Country Line Construction, Inc. (High Country) Morgan, UT;
• Huen’s East Syracuse, NY and Columbus, NJ;
• L.E. Myers Chattanooga, TN, Marshalltown, IA, and Rural Hall, NC; and
• Sturgeon Electric Anchorage, AK, Auburn, WA, Henderson, CO, and Phoenix, AZ.

NECA’s Recognition of Safety Achievement program is an elite recognition that honors thriving companies that excel in multiple areas of their safety and health programs. Member companies that consistently have OSHA recordable injury and fatality rates at levels lower than the industry standard and implement internal company safety practices beyond basic compliance receive recognition.

See all the winners by clicking here.

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STURGEON ELECTRIC CALIFORNIA RECEIVES ZERO-INJURY ACCOLADES FOR SECOND YEAR IN A ROW, HIGHLIGHTING OUTSTANDING HEALTH AND SAFETY PROGRAM AND RECORD

The National Electrical Contractors Association (NECA) recently bestowed several MYR Group, Inc. (MYR Group) subsidiary district operations with NECA 2020 Safety Excellence Awards.

Recognition of Achievement of Zero Injury awards went to the following:

• The L.E. Myers Co’s. (L.E. Myers) Marshalltown, Iowa district, and
• Sturgeon Electric Company Inc’s. (Sturgeon Electric) Las Vegas, Nev. and Troutdale, Ore. districts. This is the second consecutive year Sturgeon Electric Las Vegas has received this award.

Recognition of Safety Excellence awards went to the following:

• The E.S. Boulos Company’s (E.S. Boulos) Westbrook, Maine district;
• Harlan Electric Company’s (Harlan Electric) Harrisburg, Penn. district;
• Huen Electric (Huen) Columbus, N.J.;
• L.E. Myers Decatur, Ill. and Marshalltown;
• Sturgeon Electric’s Anchorage, Alaska; Auburn, Wash.; Henderson, Colo.; Las Vegas; Phoenix, Ariz.; Salt Lake City, Utah; and Troutdale, Ore districts; and
• Sturgeon Electric California, LLC’s Chino, Calif. district.

NECA’s Recognition of Safety Achievement program is an elite program that highlights thriving companies that excel in multiple areas of their safety and health programs. Member companies that consistently have OSHA recordable injury and fatality rates at levels lower than the industry standard and implement internal company safety practices above and beyond basic compliance receive recognition.

Read more by clicking here.

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For the second consecutive year, long-time client Ameren presented MYR Group subsidiary, The L.E. Myers Co. (L.E. Myers) in Decatur, Illinois with the 2019 Eagle Award for Safety.

Award criteria was based on several categories:

• Lost Work Days Away (LWA)
• Total Recordable Incidence Rate (TRIR)
• Preventable Outage Rate
• Near Miss / Good Catch Reporting
• Trending Reports
• Preventable Motor Vehicle Incident (PMVI)
• Safety Recognition Programs

Each category featured a weighted point scale, and contractors of same disciplines and similar man-hours (either in the low volume – below 25,000 manhours; or high volume – above 25, 000 manhours) competed against each other. Those earning 95 percent of total possible points received the highest honor, the Eagle Award.

Out of 128 contenders, L.E. Myers was one of three companies receiving this award. L.E. Myers leaders say the achievement would not have been possible without the Decatur district’s employees, citing them for their engagement and commitment to working safely. They offer special thanks goes to safety personnel Bill Eiseman and Tina McSweeney for their consistent efforts to promote and uphold L.E. Myers’ outstanding safety culture and programs.

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