Associated Builders and Contractors of Massachusetts and the Gould Construction Institute, ABC’s training affiliate, honored this year’s Safety, Training, and Evaluation Process (S.T.E.P.) award recipients at the 14th Annual ABC/GCI Safety & Education Dinner.

The Safety & Education Dinner celebrates its member companies’ commitment to worker safety and training, the instructors dedicated to providing construction and safety training to the next generation of industry leaders, and the students working long hours during the day and attending classes at night to improve their knowledge and skills.

“This is a night to recognize our students and their employers who continue to raise the standards of safety, training, and education in the construction industry,”said GCI president Barbara Lagergren.

The S.T.E.P. Awards were the highlight of the evening. This year, 58 ABC member companies were recognized for their outstanding commitment to jobsite safety. 

Henry Mustin from Mechanical Management, Inc. was recognized with the “Head of the Class” Award, which honors an outstanding HVAC student.

Also recognized was Tyler Magri, a pipefitter from Notch Mechanical Constructors, who represented ABC MA and GCI at the recent National ABC Craft Champions Competition in Long Beach, California.

The evening also recognized some 20 graduating students in attendance, as well as the more than 30 GCI instructors who were present.

In addition, three ABC Building Our Future Scholarships were presented. Samuel Escobar, an employee of ABC MA member Tenant Systems, Inc. who is entering Fitchburg State University this fall, attended the event and received a $2,500 scholarship. Scholarships also were awarded to Adam Huske and Marcelo Peres, both students at Wentworth Institute of Technology. 

S.T.E.P. is a national ABC program that provides safety benchmarking and improvement tools that has been shown to dramatically improve safety performance among participating companies. Established in 1969, S.T.E.P. was developed and written by contractors, for contractors. Companies measure their safety performance and policies through a review of 20 key components with a goal of enhancing safety programs and reducing jobsite incident rates.