Two EM contractors recently earned national recognition for being leaders in safety.

Savannah River Remediation (SRR), EM’s liquid waste contractor at the Savannah River Site, and Washington River Protection Solutions (WRPS), the Hanford Site tank operations contractor, won the 2020 Industry Leader Award from the National Safety Council.

The award recognizes the top five percent of member companies and facilities that have met the criteria and qualified for the 2020 Occupational Excellence Achievement Award, which is based on 2019 calendar year data, from the council.

Winners are selected based on North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code; lowest total incident, or employee accident, rate; and a high total of employee safe work hours. NAICS is the standard used by federal statistical agencies in classifying companies for the purpose of collecting, analyzing, and publishing statistical data related to the U.S. business economy.

SRR President and Project Manager Phil Breidenbach said earning external safety awards helps gauge if the company is doing the right thing.

“Safety is an SRR core value that sits above the rest,” Breidenbach said. “Safety isn’t a game, but if it was, the statistics help tell you which companies are winning. We use these statistics to measure our safety performance, but we never forget that the numbers represent co-workers, teammates, and friends.”

The SRR workforce worked 5.9 million safe hours in 2019. SRR has won the Industry Leader Award for the past five years.

John Eschenberg, WRPS president and CEO, said the award speaks to the dedication of WRPS employees and their vigilance of making safety a priority.

“Our people make the difference,” Eschenberg said. “This is one of the finest workforces I have had an opportunity to work with over my tenure.”

Rob Cantwell, WRPS environment, safety, health, and quality manager, said it is exciting that WRPS employees are being recognized at the national level for working safely every day.

“This award is a testament to our dedicated workforce and the accomplishments of the challenging work they perform in a safe manner,” Cantwell said. “The award winners exemplify excellence in safety performance.”