March 22, 2017
One of the buildings under construction at Las Cruces High is the new cafeteria.
Construction is often a juggling act. Nowhere is that more evident than Sundt’s second round of work at Las Cruces High in New Mexico, a $40 million K-12 construction project that impacts most every corner of the school’s campus.
Between May and July, we’re completing a remodel of the fine arts classrooms, ROTC facility, nursing area and fieldhouse. New construction on the cafeteria and auxiliary gym will also be finished. The secondary gym is being added to accommodate the many sports that share space in the primary facility.
A second stage, which will be completed next spring, includes a remodel of the main gym, existing science wing, music building and vocational building. Crews will be constructing outdoor basketball and tennis courts, a greenhouse, site utilities and site work/hardscape and taking down the old fieldhouse and arts building.
“Every building we’re working on will get flipped to another building,” said Project Director Joe Riccillo.
The second stage gets started this summer when fewer students and faculty are around.
“Everything is phased around spring break, summer and Christmas for delivery dates,” Joe said. “It doesn’t do much good to turn over a building in February. You have to wait until spring break for people to move in.”
Working on an occupied campus raises potential safety hazards that took time and thought to overcome. Joe credits Project Manager Brian Higgins and Project Superintendents Mike Dominguez and Henry Espalin with developing solutions.
“The most important thing is keeping kids safe while doing all this phased work,” Joe said. “We’ve created pathways for students to get to and from buildings and a signage system that shows them where to go.”
It’s our second project at the school, making the site familiar ground.
“Doing Phase 1 gives the school district the confidence that we can finish Phase 2 on or ahead of time,” Mike said.
Students were so happy with Phase 1 that they posted a video in late 2015 showing off their school spirit and new-look campus.
“There’s no greater reward than seeing the benefit of the project and what kind of pride the students take in their new building and their school,” Joe said. “It’s like having a virtual tour of the building.”
Project: GO 10 in El Paso
Year: Graduate Student
Major: Construction Management
School: Wayne State University
Anticipated Graduation Date: December 2016
Why did you decide on Sundt for your summer internship?
Sundt is known for its safety standards and ethics. I got to know about Sundt through my brother who admired a lot about it. The company’s reputation in the industry and Employee Stock Ownership Plan drew my interest.
What is a typical day for you?
I create virtual models of bridges and collaborate those with the schedule to create a 4D simulation for tracking the project. I extract quantities from the model to estimate the amount of material required to complete construction activities at specified time of the project.
What’s your favorite type of cuisine?
I love Chinese food.
Which book you have read recently?
“Cristiano Ronaldo: The Rise of a Winner” by Michael Part.
What’s your favorite quote or inspirational saying?
“The only way of finding the limits of the possible is by going beyond them into the impossible.” Arthur C. Clarke.
What do you like to do in your free time?
I play soccer, surf YouTube and watch movies.
Sundt Corporate Director of Safety & Quality Paul Levin.
Sundt’s celebration of Safety Week is especially poignant this year. This past March, our company won the Associated General Contractors of America Grand Award, handed out annually to the safest construction company in the country.
The award is given to a deserving contractor each year by its peers (AGC has more than 26,000 members). This was the second time our company earned the honor; the first came in 2006. The award evaluation compares a member’s safety record and program with other AGC members according to member size and construction type.
The Grand Award was one of two honors we earned during the AGC’s National Conference in San Antonio. We also took first place in the Highway Division among contractors with more than a million man hours. Winning the division award enabled us to compete for the Grand Award. We also won the national highway division in 2006, 2010 and 2013.
Corporate Director of Safety & Quality Paul Levin recently took time to answer a few questions about what the award means and what it says about our unwavering commitment to safety.
What does the AGC Grand Award mean to our clients?
Of the more than 26,000 contractors available to apply for the award, Sundt was recognized by its peers as being a leader in construction safety. It demonstrates to clients we are committed to improving our safety efforts every single day. Our clients want validation we are dedicated and committed to safety the way they are.
How did Sundt earn the award?
Fifty-two companies made it to San Antonio to present about their company safety program. Our crew of five employee-owners demonstrated our safety program’s passion, commitment and focus on continuous improvement by safety role-playing. We personalized what we do every day by recreating real-life safety challenges at the jobsite so the judges understood safety is more than just words on paper or a PowerPoint on a screen. We believe in Safety by Choice so at the end of each day, our employees are able to walk out of the jobsite gate talking about their families, their kids playing baseball, etc.
Why is safety such an important value for our company?
It goes way beyond rules and regulations. It’s not worth coming into work if we can’t go home safely. We want all employees, subcontractor employees and anyone associated with our projects to go home safely every day.
What does Sundt do to encourage safety on jobsites?
We encourage and recognize employee-owners for making good safety choices. We want people modeling and coaching safe behavior. If people are making high-risk decisions, we coach them to make safer choices. And it always comes down to recognition. You have to model the behavior you want. People always respond better with positive reinforcement versus constant feedback on what they are doing wrong.
What’s an example of something we do to make our workplaces safe?
Most contractors complete a task hazard analysis at the beginning of a task. We focus on revising our THA anytime something changes: If we add a person to a crew, if we’re using a crane instead of a forklift. We realized during review meetings many of our incidents were happening because we didn’t properly assess new equipment, mechanical or employee changes. We hadn’t gone over all the hazards. We realized the plan changed, however we didn’t call a safety timeout to reevaluate and reassess.Anyone on a jobsite can call a safety timeout any time he or she sees something that needs to be addressed. It empowers our employees and makes our jobsites safer.
Area Safety Manager Paul Sprecco (left) accepts the AGC San Diego Safety Construction Safety Excellence Award from his son, Eddie, the chapter’s CEO.
In two more examples of Sundt’s commitment to Safety by Choice, our company recently won awards from Associated General Contractors chapters in San Antonio and San Diego.
We finished first in the highway division category of the AGC San Diego Construction Safety Excellence Awards and our Building Division won Safe Contractor of the Year for the AGC San Antonio Chapter.
“There is certainly no better cause than sending our people home safe every day,” said Sundt CEO Dave Crawford.
Our safety culture is based on the idea that choices made at work have a direct impact on the lives of our employees, their families and co-workers. “Safety by Choice” is our immediate safety recognition program designed to support a culture of safety choices by recognizing employees who choose positive safety behaviors and actions.
Area Safety Manager Mark Bakeman (center) celebrates the company’s Safe Contractor of the Year Award in San Antonio.
A Sundt-Haselden joint-venture team just completed a year without a recordable safety incident on a project in Denver.
Proving our commitment to a safe working environment, a Sundt-Haselden joint-venture team working on a project in Denver has gone a year without a recordable accident. Our goal is to complete the project without a safety incident before work finishes in January.
Area Manager Danny Gumm said: “I am most proud that we were able to reach this milestone while working as a joint-venture, which can have its own challenges in conforming to a uniform safety culture and expectation. Between the two companies, we have really developed something special in the way we look out for each other and properly prepare and engage our craft-hands prior to the execution of work.”
Each member of the team received a hoodie embroidered with the joint-venture logo and “1 Year Accident-Free” motto. In addition, 10 recognition prizes were raffled, including hand tools, socket sets, cordless drills and more. The group sat together and enjoyed a catered lunch to celebrate the tremendous accomplishment.
