HOUSTON (July 26, 2019) – Mobil Steel International, Inc. takes another step forward in safety leadership within the steel fabrication and construction contractor industries with a triad of safety milestones, including earning the highest level recognition from a national trade association. Employees at Mobil Steel achieved three years without a recordable injury March 31, earned a fourth consecutive Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) National Safety Training Evaluation Process (STEP) recognition and stepped up to the top level within ABC’s STEP recognition program.
Mobil Steel earned the highest-level achievement, Diamond level recognition, in ABC’s STEP process. In the past four years Mobil Steel has stepped up each year to the next higher level of achievement. The Houston steel fabricator earned its initial STEP recognition – a silver designation in 2016, moved to gold level in 2017 and platinum in 2018 before earning the top rank diamond classification in 2019.
ABC National STEP award winners were announced at the ABC Greater Houston membership breakfast July 26, 2019 held at the Houston Marriott Westchase.
Reaching these safety milestones is a result of an engrained culture of safety cultivated at Mobil Steel in recent years, according to Leonard A. Bedell, President and CEO of Mobil Steel. “It has become an expectation at Mobil Steel that you will work safely and return home each day to your loved ones in a healthy condition,” said Bedell. “We can only achieve this by continuously improving safety performance and expectations from the top down.”
Bedell pointed out that improved safety performance also improves productivity, efficiency and costs which benefit Mobil Steel in many ways. “We need our talented employees here each day to produce quality work and superior service for our customers. Additionally, eliminating accidents and time away from work lowers cost of operations and makes us more competitive when bidding steel fabrication jobs,” Bedell added.
ABC’s STEP process is a safety benchmarking and improvement tool that dramatically improves construction industry safety performance. The process incorporates Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) standards and other key components of contractor safety and health programs. According to ABC National, STEP members dramatically reduce job site incidence rates through implementation of the enhanced STEP safety programs. STEP members decrease total recordable incidence rates by 85 percent and work 680 percent safer that the industry average.
“As an industry, it is our responsibility to ensure our workers go home in the same – or better – condition than when they arrived on the jobsite every day,” said Greg Sizemore, ABC National vice president of health, safety, environment and workforce development. “By participating in STEP, Mobil Steel leadership has demonstrated a commitment to create the conditions for all to do their work without incident. By implementing proactive safety measures, such as toolbox talks and sound substance abuse policies, Mobil Steel is committed to consistently raising the bar when it comes to safety performance.”
ABC promotes its STEP process as a value that lowers workers compensation insurance rates. Mobil Steel’s risk insurance partner, Steve Cote, Senior Vice President with Brady Chapman Holland & Associates endorses that ABC claim.
“In construction, insurance companies use an organization’s ‘experience
modification rating’ (EMR) to help price workers compensation insurance premiums. EMR is a calculation of payroll to losses ratio that gauges past cost of injuries and future chances of risk,” stated Cote.
“When a company reduces its OSHA recordable incidents, that will lower its
payroll to loss ratio thus decreasing the past cost of injuries and in turn lowering the EMR. A lower EMR trims costs but most importantly reflects a better safety performance and measures a company against its industry peers. Working with Mobil Steel’s management team, we could measure an improved safety record,” added Cote.
Bedell is gratified to be ranked by the EMR, ABC STEP program and three-year OSHA recordable milestone as an industry leader in safety performance. He also is grateful for his employees’ focus and effort on safety performance while the company remains busy fabricating steel during a growing economy.
Mobil Steel fabricates steel for the petrochemical and pipeline industry which is expanding as a result of low-cost feed stock from shale gas fields. Mobil Steel also fabricates steel for the commercial industry that continues to increase commercial building activity throughout the Gulf Coast.
“I am proud to say that working without an injury for more than three years and earning the highest level National ABC STEP recognition demonstrates that Mobil Steel employees have created a safe and healthy workplace,” added Bedell.
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About Mobil Steel International, Inc.
Mobil Steel International, Inc. fabricates steel used in some of the world’s essential industries: chemical, manufacturing, petroleum, communication, clean fuels, and power utilities, as well as commercial construction. Mobil Steel, which has been at its South Wayside Drive facility in Houston for nearly 50 years, has a production capacity of more than 1,000 tons per month in its 80,000 square feet of plant and office facilities under roof, providing flexibility to manage multiple projects. The 8.5-acre site is located within major freeway access to the refining and petrochemical complex in the Gulf Coast region. Mobil Steel is quality certified by the American Institute of Steel Construction (AISC). Mobil Steel is active in Associated Builders and Contractors, Associated General Contractors, Association of Chemical Industry of Texas, and American Welding Society. The company is a sponsoring member of Economic Alliance Houston Port Region and a member of the East End, Pasadena and Pearland Chambers of Commerce. Mobil Steel is a registered small business with the Small Business Administration. For information about Mobil Steel visit www.mobilsteel.com.
