Team Effort, Team Award ECC LA-RFO August Ochabauer, ECC vice president of operations (l) presents a duplicate plaque of ECC's National Safety Council Award to LA-RFO Director Mike Park. Plaques also went to Jean Todd, Contracting, and Gary Groenemann, Safety.  Photo by Spec Larry Gleeson. Back to Features

Million Man-Hour Milestone
ECC shares award with RFO for "setting high bar"
By Dave Harris, public affairs specialist, Louisiana Recovery Field Office

Logging accident-free work hours at a cushy, sedentary job rarely makes news. But try doing a million man-hours twice in one of the industry’s most hazardous areas in the midst of the nation’s greatest catastrophes and hazardous work places.

ECC Operating Services, LLC, has twice achieved a rarity in construction safety as a debris and demolition prime contractor for the Army Corps of Engineers’ Louisiana Recovery Field Office’s (LA-RFO) Hurricane Katrina recovery operations.

ECC nailed no-lost-time-accident marks of 1,419,459 work hours from September 2005 to February 2006 with a workforce of 12,000 and another 1 million from September 2006 to April 2007.

The National Safety Council recognized the distinction, and now ECC has spread the wealth, conferring an award June 7 to the Corps for collaborative efforts in top-down safety emphasis and monitoring in achieving the milestone.

“Thanks to key individuals in the Corps who helped us keep the safety bar really, really high,” said August Ochabauer, ECC vice president of operations.

Richard Gioscia, ECC vice president of environment, safety and quality, said, “I never thought we could achieve something like this down here” and added that it proved possible “when we persevere and don’t compromise our values.”

“You’ve done an outstanding job,” said the Corps’ Mike Park, LA-RFO director. “It’s a tribute to the culture you’ve developed here.”

A second LARFO contractor, Phillips and Jordan was recently recognized by the Corps for two separate periods with 4,329,000 and 3,997,500 man-hours without a lost time injury.

To date, the LA-RFO mission in South Louisiana has included removal of 27.7 million cubic yards of debris, enough to fill 7-8 Empire State Buildings and demolition of 17,804 structures, many containing regulated asbestos containing material.