Nabholz Construction Services is celebrating two major safety milestones: 2013 marks 40 years of working accident-free for carpenter foremen Guy Atkinson and Kenneth Armstrong , and our Tulsa operation has worked over 1,000 days without an accident. It is our goal to make sure that everyone goes home in the same or better condition as when they arrive at work each day, which is why safety is a top priority in everything we do at Nabholz.
40 Years of Safety
For Kenneth Armstrong and Guy Atkinson, their 40th anniversaries as Nabholz employees will be extra special this year, as both men are celebrating working those 40 years without a single safety incident.
Guy Atkinson joined the company in 1973 as a carpenter, and in 1989 he became a carpenter foreman, the role he serves in to this day. Not only has Guy worked for 40 years with zero accidents, he has done so while delivering an impressive level of quality and efficiency in his work. Former Nabholz superintendent TJ Nahlen boasted, “Guy does many tasks by himself about as quick as a two man crew.” Sodie Hazel, another former superintendent, added that “the work put out by Guy is excellent. There is no going back behind him on any of his work.”
Kenneth Armstrong also joined the company in 1973. He started out as a laborer and became a carpenter after graduating from the Nabholz University carpentry apprenticeship program in 1978. Nahlen described Kenneth, now a carpenter foreman, as an “extremely hard worker.” In fact, when struggling to identify an area for improvement on one of Kenneth’s annual evaluations, senior project manager Gary Strack wrote that the “only thing that comes to mind is that he tries to do too much by himself.” It’s no wonder that former superintendent Ken Anthony bragged that Kenneth is a “top carpenter–very pleasant to work with,” adding, “We need more people like Ken.”
Guy’s anniversary is in May and Kenneth’s is in August, which means they’ll receive formal recognition through our safety awards program in early 2014, but we think that this is an accomplishment that deserves to be celebrated all year long! These two veteran carpenter foremen exemplify the Nabholz core values, and we are extremely proud to have them on our team. Thank you, Guy and Kenneth, for your strong commitment to safety, quality, and hard work.
1,000 Days…and Counting!
Nabholz has a ZERO Incident Philosophy when it comes to safety, a fairly ambitious goal considering that only two industries, transportation and warehousing, have higher fatality rates than construction. But that hasn’t stopped the team in our Tulsa operation from proving that we can meet that goal. The last injury for that operation occurred on May 24, 2010, meaning they have worked over 1,000 days without a single injury. To put that into perspective, in 2011 private nonresidential construction firms reported over 18,000 total workplace injuries. None of those injuries came from Nabholz Construction Tulsa. Simply put, this is an unheard of achievement in our industry.
The success of Nabholz’ safety program is achieved through the effort and commitment of all of our employees. We want to extend a special ‘thank you’ to all of our employees in Tulsa for proving that zero incidents is possible and for making Nabholz Construction Services a true industry-leader in safety.