The risks are real in construction, and it requires a never-ending focus to ensure every single worker goes home safe each day. In an industry that carries inherent risk, Mortenson today announced the firm, along with its trade partners, has not had a recordable job-related illness or injury in Arizona for a full year.

The construction industry traditionally has higher than average safety incident rates compared to other occupations. According to the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), in 2019 – the last full year reported – there were approximately 2.8 non-fatal construction-related recordable incidents per 100 full-time workers. A recordable incident is a work-related illness and any injury which results in loss of consciousness, restriction of work or motion, transfer to another job, or requires medical treatment beyond first aid.

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Mortenson estimates this milestone was achieved by more than 1000 company team members and trade partners, who worked more than 800,000 hours of work across 14 projects in the state. Those workers went home safely to their families every night for the last 365 days as part of the company’s dedication to protecting employees, customers and partners through its long-standing Zero Injury safety program, which requires team members to be ever-vigilant.

“Mortenson is committed to delivering the safest projects in the industry. This achievement shows how seriously every single person at Mortenson takes safety,” said Brian Fitzpatrick, director of operations of Mortenson’s Arizona business. “The achievement is attributed to our teams mitigating hazards, driving safe production and truly defining our safety commitment of, ‘I Own Zero Injuries.’”

To reach this milestone, Mortenson, and its trade partners, focused on reducing hazards through a variety of practices including 5S, scheduling and planning, quality management and collaborative execution, and establishing comprehensive safety cultures on its projects

Mortenson’s work in Arizona in the past year includes multiple projects for AlaskaUSA Federal Credit Union, including tenant improvements and an office renovation, the recently completed Hyatt Place/Hyatt House hotel in the Novus Innovation Corridor, as well as the extensive renovation to Salt River Project’s Project Administration Building. Other projects completed in the last year include a renovation and expansion to the White Sox Clubhouse at Camelback Ranch Spring Training Facility and various confidential corporate projects including office tenant improvements and a consumer goods manufacturing facility. Current projects underway include the Hyatt Place in Phoenix as well as the new Multi-Purpose Arena for Arizona State University, and The Beam on Farmer – both located in Tempe.