Leading merit shop mechanical services contractor Manhattan Mechanical Services was recently awarded the Three Rivers Manufacturers’ Association (TRMA) Gold Award for a second consecutive year.

TRMA, the leading manufacturing association in the Chicagoland area, focuses on promoting manufacturing excellence among its local, national, and international members. The Joliet, Illinois-based group recognizes and awards industrial contractor companies that exhibit high-level safety practices at TRMA manufacturing plants. These companies achieve OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) recordable rates below the national average.

Manhattan Mechanical Services’ 2020-2021 total recordable incident rate, or TRIR, is zero at over one million man-hours, according to Corporate Safety Manager Nate Hassett. “At Manhattan Mechanical, a deep-rooted safety culture is ingrained into each of our craftsmen. Keeping safety at the forefront of each project is the number-one priority,” he said.  

Manhattan Mechanical Services prides itself as a low-overhead, high-productivity merit shop company that leads with safety and integrity. The company’s team of multi-skilled craftsmen offers services in industrial maintenance, process piping, structural steel, equipment installation, scaffolding, and insulation. Providing its clients with highly skilled, multi-crafted professionals delivers labor-cost savings of up to 25 percent, with no sacrifice in efficiency or quality.

The team undergoes extensive, ongoing training in all safety standards and protocols, preparing craftsmen with the tools necessary to keep themselves and their fellow team members safe in the field. Their in-house training includes working from heights, hole watch, fire watch, lockout tag out (LOTO), confined space entry, dropped objects, safe driving, use of ground-fault circuit interrupters (GFCI), and much more.

Manhattan Mechanical takes a proactive approach to all projects, using leading indicators and a loss-prevention observation card to assess risks or hazards before setting foot on the job site. Also required before starting any work on-site are job safety assessments, or JSAs, that also aid in assessing and mitigating risks and identifying key aspects of safety on-site, such as safety showers, alarm systems, etc.

The safety team can dissect the information, relaying safety protocols and risks to the team through weekly safety meetings, toolbox talks, and job-site visits. According to Hassett, this is where leadership plays an integral role.

“The supervisor, superintendents, etc. help bring the team together, creating a safety culture that has been successful in keeping our philosophy at the top of our minds every day,” he said. “If it can be done, it can be done safely.”

The premier merit shop company is also an Accredited Training Sponsor and an Accredited Assessment Center through the National Center for Construction Education and Research (NCCER). Manhattan Mechanical utilizes the NCCER curriculum in its standardized training programs to help team members develop their knowledge and skills when working in the field, ensuring the team can approach each job safely.

Along with the TRMA Gold Award, Manhattan Mechanical’s outstanding safety efforts have also been recognized and awarded by the Associated Builders and Contractors, ExxonMobil, and the Four Corners Construction Group. Most notably, Manhattan Mechanical is well on its way to achieving its third consecutive year with zero-OSHA recordable injuries.