Associated Builders and Contractors of Massachusetts, one of the state’s largest commercial construction associations, and the Gould Construction Institute, ABC’s training affiliate, honored this year’s Safety, Training, and Evaluation Process (STEP) award recipients at the 15th Annual ABC/GCI Safety & Education Dinner.

The Safety & Education Dinner is ABC/GCI’s premier event, celebrating our member companies’ commitment to worker safety and training, the talented 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 Julie Kelliher.

The STEP Awards were the highlight of the evening. This year, 60 ABC member companies were recognized for their outstanding commitment to jobsite safety. “By drawing attention to the importance of jobsite safety we make sure that it is not taken for granted,” Kelliher said. “The bottom line is that we are nothing without safe, healthy workers.”

Click here for a full list of the winners.

STEP 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, STEP 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.  

The evening also recognized some 26 graduating students in attendance, as well as the more than 85 dedicated GCI instructors who work tirelessly throughout the year across nine Massachusetts locations. 

A $2,500 ABC Building Our Future Scholarship was presented to Harrison Carter, an employee at E. M. Duggan Mechanical Contractors and recent graduate from Canton High School who is entering the University of Massachusetts Amherst this fall to pursue a major in building and construction technology.

Also recognized was Anthony Flanagan from Nardon Electrical Corp, Matt Costello from Notch Mechanical Constructors, and Sean O’Dowd from DECCO, who all recently competed at National ABC Craft Champions in Long Beach, California. Sean O’Down took home the gold medal for pipefitting to become a world class champion.