Safety Advocate of the Year
Flintco LLC — Denver
Highlights of the application include:
- Collaboration with Aurora Public Schools — ConstrucTECH program where students are exposed to real-life job site safety concerns, examples and dangers.
- Research into the limitations of traditional hard hats.
- This research led to the adoption of Type II safety helmets in 2018 and led to a mandate on all of Flintco’s job sites effective March 1, 2024. Additionally, Flintco donated Type II helmets to APS ConstrucTECH students.
Safety Innovation Award
Flintco LLC — Denver
Highlights of the application include:
- The establishment of Flintco’s 4LIFE Safety Program.
- Utilizing FactorLab’s SmartTagIt application and pretask planning software, coupled with a comprehensive education on implementation and benefits on job sites.
- Nearly 100 of Flintco’s current job sites utilize SmartTagIt for their pretask planning.
- The use of SmartTagIt is also identifying future leaders in the field and enhancing safety practices across all projects.
Tony Dietrich Safety Professional of the Year
Brennen Knerr, Superintendent, Flintco LLC — Denver
Highlights of the application include:
- Over the last three years, Brennan has worked on six different projects for BAE systems, and through them all, there have been zero unplanned disruptions to the occupied buildings he was working within and, most importantly, zero injuries on job sites.
- Additionally, Brennen has been faced with the coordination of unique challenges. One involved the installation of a 30-ton crane to the roof of the Vibrations Laboratory Expansion project. One project manager suggested a solution that would have saved the team time but was clearly an unsafe method. Brennen, drawing on Flintco’s four R’s — Raise your Voice, Reach Out, Recognize the Hazard, and Do It Right — spoke up. He devised a plan to stagger the work across shifts and finish the work on time, without incident and in a much safer solution.
- Brennen spent time researching a better solution to remove concrete from the FM Kathabar project, allowing his crew to minimize their exposure to silica while still meeting the client’s expectations.
- Per the application: “He consistently goes above and beyond, fostering relationships with trade partners, taking time to meet with clients to understand their needs and wants, and truly getting to know the owners he works with.”
Tony Dietrich Safety Professional of the Year
Andre Vialpando, Director of Safety, JMS Wind Energy
Highlights of the application include:
- Andre introduced the acronym SLAM (Stop, Look, Access, Manage) to JMS and developed a comprehensive safety program around this motto.
- Due to JMS’s rapid growth, Andre has designed and managed processes for ensuring employees receive training in a timely manner to maintain their certifications, allowing them to receive the correct knowledge and skills necessary to complete their work safely each day. He currently oversees 40+ trainings for more than 150 employees and is looking to grow their training library to develop more safety programs.
- With all of that said, Andre’s greatest accomplishment is that JMS has completed close to one million hours of work in the past year with ZERO recordable incidents. This is a direct result of the dedicated, meaningful work Andre has paid to his staff and team at JMS Wind Energy.
