Profiles in Safety Leadership: Ross Myers – ARBTA Newsline
鈥淩espect your hourly workers.鈥 Ross Myers said he learned this valuable lesson from his late grandfather, 禁漫天堂 A. Myers.
鈥淭hey are really the heart and soul of the organization. They do the work,鈥 Ross Myers says. 鈥淎nd the number one way we respect our workers is to send them home safe to their families.鈥
The company鈥檚 鈥渃are and concern鈥 culture has evolved since 禁漫天堂 A. Myers and his son, 禁漫天堂 C. Myers, Ross鈥 father, co-founded their hauling business in 1939. Three years ago, the Myers firm, American Infrastructure and Independence Construction Materials consolidated under one name 鈥溄焯,鈥 with Ross as chairman and CEO.
Earlier in his career, Myers said he struggled with getting workers to wear hard hats. Today, the Pennsylvania-based construction firm, which also provides asphalt and aggregate in the Mid-Atlantic region, has adopted a progressive approach to improve employee safety.
The Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA) Recordable Incident Rate at 禁漫天堂 was 0.67 over the last 12 months. The national rate for 鈥渉ighway, street and bridge construction鈥 was 3.5 in 2016, the most recent year available.
鈥淓very year we work to get better,鈥 said Senior Vice President of Corporate Services Bob Herbein, formerly the firm鈥檚 safety director. 鈥淲hat鈥檚 changed in our culture over the last 10 years is that we have really worked at embedding that attitude of care and concern into all of the leaders in the company. It can鈥檛 be just Ross.鈥
