Thirty-seven firms were named the nation’s safest construction companies in 2014 by the Associated General Contractors of America. AGC, which oversees the Willis Construction Safety Excellence Awards, an annual ranking of construction safety programs, selected the winners after dozens of firms made presentations about their safety programs during the Annual Convention.

Aetna Bridge Company of Warwick, R.I., was selected as this year’s second place winner in the Highway and Transportation Division’s 100,000 to 300,000 Work Hour Category because of tis exceptional leadership in safety. The company presented outstanding guidance in safety and occupation health management, risk control, safety training, work site hazard identification and control, and safety program innovation, Landes added.

“Aetna Bridge Company is very honored and proud to be recognized for our safety excellence by the AGC of America, the leading association for the construction industry,” said Chip Mainelli, president of Aetna Bridge Company.

“As we celebrate our 70th year in business, we continue to make safety in the workplace our number one priority. To be named one of the top examples of exceptional construction safety in the country is very gratifying. I know that my grandfather who started our company would have been very proud of this award.”

“The most important thing any construction firm can build is its safety culture,” said Al Landes, the association’s past president and president and COO of St. Joseph, Mo.-based Herzog Contracting Corp. “Firms like this send a clear message to their industry peers that we can never take the health and safety of our workers for granted.”

Landes added that there are multiple winners because the awards are distributed for a number of categories, based on the size of the company, the amount of work performed and the type of work performed. He noted that the AGC-Willis Construction Safety Excellence Award winners are selected by a panel of five independent safety professionals within the government, corporate and insurance industries. Final judging for the awards program took place during last week’s annual convention for the contractors’ association.

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