SANDY, Utah (December 21, 2017) – Layton Construction recently named Wasatch Renal Center in South Salt Lake City, Utah, as the 2017 winner of the company’s coveted Oak Hard Hat Safety Award. The traveling award recognizes the project teams that best exemplify Layton’s safe practices. Layton Construction is a nationally-ranked commercial contractor with projects underway across the country.
David S. Layton President and CEO
“The team at Wasatch Renal Center embodies the practices and attitudes that are at the core of Layton’s safety program,” said David S. Layton, President and CEO of Layton Construction Company. “They and the other nominees demonstrate Layton’s commitment to keeping safety at the forefront of all we do.”
David Layton continued: “At Layton Construction, safety is job one. If it isn’t safe, we just won’t do it. We stop what we’re doing, and we figure out a way to do it safely and correctly. That’s the pledge we make to you – and we make to each other – to be safe on and off the job. We want our employees and the employees of our subcontractor partners to come home safe to their families every night.”
Top Nominated Projects
Project of the Year – Wasatch Renal Center
Superintendent John Hall and project manager Ryan Hansen talk about safety while walking the jobsite at Wasatch Renal Center in South Salt Lake.
“Many of our projects are deserving of an award,” said Jeff Beecher, executive vice president of operations for Layton’s Construction Services Group. “But one that embodies our challenge to ‘personally set the tone’ is Wasatch Renal Center, led by Ryan Hansen and John Hall. They’ve managed the project with ZERO incidents,”
“When beginning the project, they committed to solve any challenges in a true partnering fashion, using core values and processes to achieve a zero injury environment,” Beecher continued. “The leadership they’ve shown by committing to basic principles has resulted in spectacular outcomes.”
“Just a few of the items embraced and executed:
- Strong leadership, discipline and commitment to Layton’s 12 Safety Essentials
- Showed how proper planning, preparedness and quality translates to a safe project
- Their commitment to safety led subcontractors to be fully prepared while presenting their Subcontractor Project Management Plans
“Some would say that there weren’t any new safety concepts, approaches or innovation used to achieve the results attained” Beecher said. “We say that is correct – when the system is followed, combined with stellar leadership, we get extraordinary results. This project is an example of what can be achieved on every project if our team commits to follow basic principles.”
North Alabama Medical Center
Senior superintendent Bill Cofer talks to the team during the morning huddle at North Alabama Medical Center.
The North Alabama Medical Center project is a 485,000 SF hospital under construction in Florence, Alabama, a small community in the state’s northwest corner. “Recruiting and keeping a workforce on-site in a remote area of the state has been a challenge. But it’s the workers who make this project unique,” said Steve Brecker, executive vice president of operations for Layton’s Healthcare Construction Group. “Layton senior superintendent Bill Cofer and his team have provided the leadership where workers enjoy coming to work every day to a place where everyone knows the plan and works the plan properly.”
Said Layton vice president Randy Patterson: “This project is managed intelligently and aggressively:
- Parking is controlled with striped parking spots
- Each day at work starts with a morning huddle
- Workers enter the building in designated locations
- Break time is the same for everyone
- Workers clean up after themselves
- Communication among all trades is rock solid
- Workers feel appreciated
“What are the results? The project continues to stay ahead of its aggressive 23-month schedule, but most importantly is a safe environment. Layton safety manager Tim Watwood is out in the building all day long helping the workforce work safely, not writing them up or lecturing them. When he is not in the field, he is demonstrating live examples of working safely – not from a book. His training and orientations are the best we have seen, so good that we made a training video of them to share with the whole company. We currently have 400 workers on site and will peak at 650. Every worker is accounted for daily and makes a plan for what he will be doing.”
Rob Cunico, Brent Lundevall and Joe Wells are the core of a Layton Interior Construction Specialists team that has worked on a dozen projects at the LDS Church Office Building and LDS Church History Library in downtown Salt Lake City.
LDS Church Office Building and Church History Library
“In 2017, Interior Construction Specialists worked on 12 separate projects for the LDS Church in the church’s downtown Church Office Building and Church History Library,” said Jason Hill, executive vice president of operations for Layton’s Interior Construction Specialists. “The work was completed inside occupied spaces and publicly accessible spaces. Most of the work was high profile, and mitigating risk was paramount. The majority of the work was completed by one project team – Brent Lundevall, Joe Wells and Rob Cunico. All work was completed without incident, zero first aids, recordables or lost time accidents.”
“Over the past years, this team has performed numerous incident-free projects at the downtown LDS Church facilities, including a complete structural upgrade to all three stairwells of the Church Office Building, restoration of the Eagle Gate Arch, and restoration of a pedestrian tunnel under State Street. These projects have forced the project team to consider nearly every type of unique safety challenge our company can encounter. Often an initial safety plan is tested as first work is put in place, then analyzed and modified prior to the remainder of the work starting. Zero incidents is always the goal, and to date, this goal has been maintained.”
Makana North Shore Urgent Care
“The Hawaii Strategic Business Unit has embraced our corporate motto of ‘Constructing with Integrity’ and internalized the Layton values. In turn, we have infused the company with the Hawaiian ‘spirit of aloha,’ ” said Tyler Dillon, executive vice president of operations for Layton’s Hawaii Strategic Business Unit.
“A few months ago the Hawaii SBU rolled out an infographic that we feel represents our Layton objective in Hawaii, and the first phrase in the graphic is ‘Safe Production.’ It coincides with our business priorities of creating a profitable enterprise that provides for our families by managing risks and delivering predictable outcomes. The Makana North Shore Urgent Care team has led this charge from the preliminary stages of their project. They work diligently to pre-plan and anticipate safety risks, and their efforts have also had an impact on profitability.”
“The North Shore Urgent Care team has demonstrated that good planning coincides with safe, profitable projects. NSUC is an exemplary project that demonstrates our company values. Just as safety is the first value in the graphic, NSUC has also put safety first in all aspects of project management,” Dillon said. “We are confident this directly correlates to the 151 injury-free days at the North Shore Urgent Care project.”
“An emphasis on safety from the earliest phases of the project has established the safety culture on the job,” Dillon said. “Both project manager Brian
Project manager Brian Van Gorp, project engineer Ben Robson and superintendent Trevor Ford have put safety first in the management of the Makana North Shore Urgent Care project.
Van Gorp and superintendent Trevor Ford led subcontractor pre-award meetings with owners and foremen to discuss safety, schedule, and manpower. Because these sometimes difficult conversations occurred prior to award, the team was able to incorporate safety concepts discussed into the contract and hold subcontractors accountable.”
“Another approach is to make safety personal,” Dillon said. “Trevor demonstrates a personal interest in the lives of the workers. He makes time to learn a little about their backgrounds, families, and hobbies. The team has found this to be an effective tool when correcting unsafe practices. The workers respect the correction because there is a personal connection. Personal Connection = Respected Correction.”
Recently Layton has emphasized “Ladders Last” as a practice to eliminate common injuries that result from improper or even proper use of ladders. NSUC team embraced this concept and worked with subcontractor teams at the bid review stage to ensure compliance. Although foreign to our subcontractors, particularly the framing subcontractor, rolling platforms were used instead of ladders for all work.
NSUC planned ahead to address typical fall hazard safety risks. Temporary railings were installed early around the second-floor perimeter of the building, and the team had framers install the permanent stairs prior to installation of the second-floor sheathing. The solution provided a safe working area that avoided the use of harnesses, lanyards, and ladders.
Read about 2016 Oak Hard Hat Award
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