stablishing a good safety record takes planning, open communication, and often a lot of retooling. The Associated General Contractors, or AGC, of Alaska recognized four companies and one individual with its ConocoPhillips Excellence in Safety awards on November 7 at the AGC of Alaska Annual Convention for going beyond the basics in developing a culture of safety while on the job.
The company is using technology to change its safety management processes, adopting a cloud-based platform that uses real-time updates, such as safety reports, hazard assessments, and incident documentation, allowing for immediate review and action.
The “Blue Card” system is a hazard reporting tool that empowers employees to identify and easily report potential hazards on site, either on paper or using a mobile device. The hazards might include potential risks, unsafe conditions, or near-miss incidents. Once reported, the system allows employees to track each card from submission to resolution. It also offers space for employees to submit suggestions for improved safety practices, opening up a continuous feedback loop between workers and managers.
“It’s a new program for us. Internally we’ve been working on it for two and a half years, so to get recognized is validating,” says Alaska Crane President Brennan Walsh. Walsh is also president of STG, Inc., which he said uses the system, too.
He says having a strong safety record helps the company in several ways.
“It helps with recruiting. It shows our commitment to safety, shows our commitment to our employees and to our customers,” Walsh says. “It means something to us.”
Read more about Alaska Crane in this edition on page 18.
The extensive orientation and training program provides a foundation for a safety-conscious culture at Brice.
Brice Project Engineer Ariana Noel says she helped develop a safety program this year that the company has been using, and plans to tweak it to better fit Brice’s needs in 2025. Having a strong safety culture is important, both on the job and off, she says.
“Safety makes the job environment better; it makes people happier when they go home to their families, and it opens communication,” Noel says. “It leads to open communication in other areas and more engagement, for sure.”
“We doubled down on it, hired some additional safety professionals, and took some more time to get out to the field and inspect the jobs,” Davis Vice President Jed Shandy says.
The hard work is paying off. Davis won a safety award last year and continued its efforts to hone its safety protocol this year. Shandy noted that, in addition to building a strong internal culture of safety, Davis became early adopters of the new international standard of hard hat, handing them out to employees this year. Davis leaders, in the safety award submission, noted that safety training never stops.
“Davis is lucky enough to have many seasoned workers onsite, but like every construction company, we have also had an influx of new-generation field hands. With this mix of personalities and experiences, there have been many positives, such as new perspectives, insights, and methodologies of doing things. This unique blend of personalities on the jobsite has made us look inwards. Instead of saying, ‘This is the way we do things,’ we have been looking at our protocols and what has made our safety program award-winning and have taken note of what works in this new generation of construction and what we need to improve,” company officials noted in the submission.
Shandy says winning the award “establishes to our subcontractors and clients that we have a track record of safety, that we take it seriously.”
The company also incorporated a QR code system for near-miss or safety concern reporting that, when used, automatically sends an email to its safety consultant and to the ChemTrack Safety Committee chair, Alaska Office of Safety and Health Administration reporting staff, and the company vice president. The code is at every jobsite, home office, and shop and is included in every job folder and on every daily safety checklist that each crew member signs, ChemTrack officials said in the company’s safety award submission.
“Once a report is made, the ChemTrack Safety Committee Chair reaches out to the concerned party, provides resources as necessary, and adds the incident to the Quarterly Safety Meeting Agenda,” the submission states. ChemTrack President Carrie Jokiel says company leaders are really excited about the reporting system and has seen positive change.
ChemTrack Vice President Jenith Ziegler says keeping a good safety record also affects the company’s bottom line; having a poor safety record can affect a company’s ability to get jobs.
“So, it just helps keep everybody busy, keeping a good safety record,” Ziegler says.
“It’s nice to be rewarded for doing the right thing,” Jokiel adds.
Davis—and Parmenter—have worked steadily on different projects at Providence Alaska Medical Center. In that time, Parmenter has come up with “best practices” that have been so well-received by Providence that the hospital now requires all contractors working on the campus to adhere to them.
Parmenter says the effort was very organic, developed project by project over the span of nearly fifteen years.
“We just figured out over time what needed to happen,” he says.
Photo provided by Davis Constructors & Engineers.
“In order of the magnitude of concerns, on the low scale, a simple handprint of dust in the wrong department would be cause for concern, as that could be immune-compromised. It could be the precursor to someone’s infection,” Parmenter says. “At the same time, we have worked next to the neonatal intensive care units—and built one—and next to the intensive operating units.”
In those situations, he says, the crew had to come up with ways to reduce vibration and noise, as well as keeping dust and other effects away.
“There was no handbook when we started here. We had to learn a lot of this stuff on the fly, either through self-education or learned experience,’” he says.
Parmenter doesn’t work exclusively at Providence; as superintendent, he oversees multiple projects at the same time, Davis leaders noted in the award submission. “He manages a fleet of subcontractors and trade workers, ensuring that they understand and adhere to Davis’s safety program, meet quality standards, and keep projects on schedule.”
Despite a lengthy list of other duties, Parmenter is the primary contact for after-hours construction emergencies for Anchorage and Eagle River. He’s the first person on site for issues related to infection control, mold, lead, asbestos, and other concerns within hospital settings, as well as facility failures.
“A prime example is when Mike got a call from the Eagle River Providence’s Medical Center facility manager. They had a power outage and lost heat to the entire building. It was in the dead of winter and one of Mike’s only off days that week. Despite that, he drove from his house in Anchorage to Eagle River to see what he could do to help. He ended up figuring out how to get the heat working for the whole facility and did this all before their on-call service technician could make it out to help,” Davis leaders noted in the award submission. “Becoming the primary emergency contact for Providence was never in Mike’s ‘job description’ but rather something he naturally settled into with his dedication to the Providence team.”
Parmenter says, looking back, he’s kind of amazed at the knowledge he’s picked up. The award, he says, is validating.
“It’s come to the point of, ‘Hey, I actually did that,’” he says.