by Diana Barnum
Correspondent
What rates top priority in your
company? An increase in sales? An increase in production?
At Rogers
Group, Inc. (RGI), safety on and off the job is the company’s highest
priority.
Claiming to be the seventh largest crushed stone producer in
the nation with 1,900 employees, Rogers Group operations include hot
asphalt mix, road construction, sand and gravel, building materials and
supplies, specialty products and construction materials recycling.
What is their asset with the highest value? Employees.
“Our safety
record stands out,” said Gary Barrow, manager of RGI’s Bloomington Asphalt
and Construction in Bloomington, Indiana. “One of the things we focus on
is work zone safety, not only for our employees but the public. We’re
always on the lookout for new signage, informational sideboards, etc. for
improvements.”
One new safety change in asphalt paving operations that
worked well was running night shifts during the past year. Barrows
dedicated an asphalt plant to the night crew. Projects resulted in
increased production, less traffic, smoother running for haul trucks and
more material was transported to the job site.
“Some of the men were a
little worried, since it was their first night shift,” said Barrow, “but
it worked out okay. It was safer with less exposure to traffic.”
Barrow
may start up night shifts again. He has five paving crews that work for
him now. The projects with high-traffic areas may be moved to the night
shift.
Since RGI makes their own paving materials, Barrow’s crews have
been testing new materials to replace the dolometric product that they use
now in their QCQA approved 9 1/2 MM materials. This QCQA requires slag
steel that they purchase from steel mills around Chicago, elemetric #11
limestone and dolometric-manufactured sand from U.S. Aggregates. The new
product must meet skid requirements on rainy pavement approved by the
Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT).
Indiana crews are also
laying new asphalt mix on new roads in Davis County. Equipment they use
includes a Blawan Ox 5510, Cedar Rapids CR 431 and Ingersoll-Rand DD 90
and DD 130 compactors. Although INDOT requires new asphalt on road
surfaces, they do allow recycled content in base and intermediate courses,
even beneath the road surface.
Indiana is not the only state with RGI
facilities. They are also in Alabama, Arkansas, Tennessee and Kentucky.
Several of the Kentucky facilities recently won the Good Neighbor Award
from the Kentucky Crushed Stone Association for taking positive steps to
improve their operations.
Tennessee facilities received three Smooth
Paving Awards and 22 Safety Awards at Tennessee Road Builders’ annual
meeting. Twenty-one of the RGI operations received Safety Awards for
achieving zero frequency rates for 2001, for a total of 527,272 hours. And
one earned second place among companies with greater than 450,000 hours
worked, for all Tennessee operations achieving 628,112 hours with no
accidents.
The Tennessee Department of Transportation awarded RGI a Top
Quality Award for a construction project deemed to be of the highest
quality. All across the state, contractors’ projects were in competition
in six categories: rideability, budget, completion time, safety,
environmental treatment and material specification performance testing.
RGI won with a $21,225,161 project, the widening of I-65 from Harding
Place to I-440 and the reconstruction of the interchange at Harding Place
in Davidson County.
In addition to building roads, RGI believes in
building people by supporting educational programs in the community. They
also donate materials to schools in all of their communities, and provide
internships and scholarships. Their website even hosts Rockology 101 with
fun facts and activities for all ages about aggregates.
For more
information about safety night shifts and asphalt paving operations,
contact Rogers Group, Inc., 421 Great Circle Road, Nashville, TN 37228.
Call: (615) 242-0585. Visit them online at
www.rogersgroupinc.com |