To be successful in the construction industry is no different than being successful in any feat, it requires consistency. Success demands day in and day out preparation, proper tools and effective training, equipment, and conditions. When it comes to safety, this recipe for success is the same.
From our company leaders to our field leaders and all of our employees in between, we believe the key to being safe is being proactive and consistently engaging our people with safety in everything we do. At Egan Company, safety is everyone’s job. It’s everyone’s job to make sure our safety policies and procedures are being consistently executed. It’s everyone’s job to help us achieve our goal of ZERO injuries and to come home to our family and friends at the end of the work day.
Through much hard work and a refined focus, Egan achieved its Total Recordable Incident Rate goal of < 2.0 for 2018. Our incident rate for the year was 1.87 (down from 2.42 in 2017) which is substantially below the average rate for specialty trade contractors in Minnesota (4.70). This was accomplished with over 1.8 million hours worked.
“Moving the safety needle in 2018 was a great achievement for us as a company,” said Reid Romer, Egan Company Safety Director. “Our safety incident rate is a direct reflection of the time and energy we’ve invested collectively to minimize risk and protect our people. This progress comes from specific safety initiatives we committed to improving over the past few years and we are now seeing rewarding results.”
An example of one of the changes made in 2017 was within the new employee on-boarding process. This process was specifically addressed after recognizing a pattern that new employees were consistently getting injured within their first six months on the job. Egan acknowledged this, invested in changing it, and elevated it on its priority list. As a result, new employee injuries have significantly decreased.
Though we are proud of this progress in 2018, Egan has no plans of slowing down its drive to be the best-in-class when it comes to safety. Utilizing employee and peer group feedback and experiences from last year, the bar is set even higher for 2019.
“Our goal is to continue to engage with our employees and do everything we can to keep this injury reduction track trending in 2019,” said Romer. “We’ll continue to fill the information and training pipelines, as well as remain diligent with planning in both the pre-mobilization and throughout our jobs. This, along with a team approach, will continue to give us an opportunity to lead the way for safety on our projects this year and in the future.”
High-rise buildings are the distinguishing trademark of cities around the world. And, being the 16th largest metropolitan area in the country, Minneapolis and St. Paul are no different.
The project was officially awarded to Egan by Bigos Management in late March. From the start, Egan’s team knew the new cooling towers would need to be “flown” up to the top of the building. To do the “flying”, Egan began coordinating and pre-planning with a local crane company, Vic’s Crane and Heavy Haul.
Although there was two feet of snow on the ground when the project started, Minnesota’s infamously, unpredictable spring weather found itself over 85 degrees just a few weeks later. With the previous cooling towers entirely off the building, the countdown was on to get the first new cooling tower operational in order to start cooling all of the buildings within the city block.
A dream came true for a football fan last April when Jason Lindula, Egan Company Safety Coordinator, was gifted a trip-of-a-lifetime.
Egan’s solar site projects vary in size, location, time of year, and type of solar panels – fixed-tilt or tracking. “Tracking” solar panels track the sun’s progress across the sky throughout the day, whereas the fixed-tilt solar panels stay in place. Last summer, 150 Egan electricians were on the 65-acre St. Joseph Solar Farm project to install 28,188 fixed-tilt solar panels.
For many active duty military members, transitioning out of the service can be daunting. Finding housing, employment, and acclimating back into the routine of daily life is a huge hurdle to overcome. And, although disciplined and highly-trained, many military members still struggle with unemployment.
“At times, it is a little confusing for me, but a lot of the habits from the military are still very transferable to my new career,” Martagon said. “I still would do them every day with or without rank.”
U.S. Bank Stadium.
Successfully applying this process at U.S. Bank Stadium has led to similar work on other professional sports infrastructures. NBA franchise, the Milwaukee Bucks, will call a new, beautiful arena home beginning this summer. The aesthetically appealing arena is being constructed by M.A. Mortenson who has tasked Egan and its Trimble expertise for the arena’s complex glass and glazing scope.
What started as a simple electrical upgrade by Egan Company in the early 1970s, has formed into a 50-year partnership with Westminster Presbyterian Church in Downtown Minneapolis. Over the last two decades, Westminster has completed four major projects with Egan that has transformed the building into a more modern-looking church while maintaining its historical culture.
“Our most recent project, the Open Doors Open Futures project, was one of my favorites,” said Setala. “We were involved in the upgrading of electrical fixtures, an extensive exterior lighting addition, and the Grand Staircase light fixture…a beautiful, 55 foot chandelier with glass hand-blown in New York and assembled in Paris.”
Renovating and replacing light poles, fixtures, and luminaries throughout downtown Minneapolis and the blocks surrounding the stadium was just a start. More than 30 light poles and fixtures and 60 luminaries were replaced with more modern LED lighting, which not only looks sharper, but is also more energy efficient.
Down the road from MSP is Holman Field Airport in downtown St. Paul, which is gearing up to be the private-jet hub for the Super Bowl. In preparation, Egan provided the installation of all new light poles, fixtures, taxiway lights, and flag poles to get ready for the VIP flyers.