The last time an electrician or communication technician for PayneCrest Electric and Communications could not report to work because of an injury on the job was Jan. 5, 2005. Seven years and more than five million total man hours later, PayneCrest is celebrating a safety achievement for an industry that is annually ranked as the most hazardous in the nation. During that span of time, PayneCrest has safely completed more than $530 million in complex electrical installations for industrial, commercial and institution projects throughout the country.
"According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Lost Time Incident Rate, a large electrical contractor the size of PayneCrest should expect to have about 49 lost-time injuries over a seven-year span based on five million man hours," said Erin Mutert, loss control specialist for JW Terrill, a full-service provider of insurance, risk management, and employee benefit solutions. "To have zero like PayneCrest is truly remarkable."
"We have been able to instill a culture of safety at every level of our operations," said David L. Payne, president of PayneCrest. "Our project managers, supervisors, and the journey workers of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local One, who we employ, can all be very proud of this great achievement in the nation's most hazardous profession."
According to the latest figures by the BLS, construction accounted for more fatal work injuries than any other industry in 2010.
As PayneCrest was achieving its milestone in safety, the firm was engaged in several complex projects including the modernization of the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, Tenn.; data centers for Thomson Reuters and BJC HealthCare, St. Louis; seed company Pioneer Hi-Bred's production plant, New Madrid, Mo.; the Abengoa Solar, Inc. Solana solar power plant near Gila Bend, Ariz.; and another solar project for Abengoa near Victorville Calif.At PayneCrest, new hires are trained in more than 30 areas of safety. Additionally, employees are trained in a dozen additional safety measures that are specific to the particular project to which they are assigned. All office and field supervisors are OSHA 30-Hour certified while most of its electricians and communications technicians are OSHA 10-Hour certified.