March 1, 2019

(Chicago, IL) - The American Institute of Steel Construction (AISC) has honored more than 60 structural steel fabrication and erection facilities with AISC Safety Awards for their excellent safety performance records in 2018. Awards are given in the categories of "Fabricator" and "Erector" and include the Safety Award of Honor -- AISC's top safety award -- presented for a perfect safety record of no disabling injuries, as well as the Safety Certificate of Merit and the Safety Certificate of Commendation. All of the winners can be viewed at www.aisc.org/safetyawards.

All AISC full fabricator members and erector associate members are eligible and data for the program is solicited annually. In order to collect statistically significant data that is meaningful and familiar to safety professions, the program uses data that companies also report to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). The program recognizes performance measured in terms of Days Away, Restricted or Transferred Rate (DART). The DART is a measure of the number of recordable lost work cases per 200,000 man-hours worked. Only the number of cases (not days) that are reported on the OSHA 300A form (and that cause a lost workday as defined by OSHA) are reported to AISC along with the hours worked in the year.

"Nobody has a stronger commitment to safety than the steel industry" explains AISC's president, Charles J. Carter. AISC Safety Awards are given for perfect records (Honor, DART=0), excellent records (Merit, 0<DART≤1) and commendable records (Commendation, 1<DART≤2).

"AISC's annual Safety Awards program recognizes excellent records of safety performance, and we commend these facilities for their effective accident prevention programs," said Tom Schlafly, chief of engineering staff and director of safety at AISC. "Periodic recognition of safety in the workplace has been demonstrated to provide worker incentive and a reminder of the importance of safe practices."

For more information about the program, as well as safety resources available to the fabricated and erected structural steel industry, please visit www.aisc.org/safety.