Orlando, FL — The Gary E. Bird Horizon Award was presented at the 36th IRMI Construction Risk Conference (CRC) to the Construction Subcommittee of the Workplace Task Force; National Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention. This award recognized the committee for their innovative suicide prevention program.
The committee developed and implemented the award-winning “Breaking the Silence: Suicide Prevention in the Construction Workplace” program to address mental health and suicide prevention in the construction industry. The goal of this program is to increase communication, reduce fear/stigma, engage leadership and provide a roadmap for the construction industry to prevent suicide.
The Gary E. Bird Horizon Award, sponsored by Travelers, is presented annually by IRMI to recognize a demonstrated commitment to improving construction risk management through the implementation of innovative, cost-effective, and efficient risk management techniques.
“Few of us were hired and promoted into management because of our capabilities to identify and address mental illness,” said Joe Tracy, President of Travelers Inland Marine. “This approach is very helpful at getting wide spread adoption across any company’s management ranks and most importantly helps ensure the effective implementation of the program.”
The other finalists for the award were Shawn Connick, Director of Safety for Charles Pankow Builders Ltd.; Robert J. DeSmidt, CPA, CFO/risk manager for Klinger Companies, Inc.; Tommy Erhman, Project Executive for Gilbane Federal; and Dwayne Jeffery, Senior EHS Transportation Manager for Odebrecht.
Read more about the winning submission and view the committee’s flyer.
Learn more about the Gary E. Bird Horizon Award at: https://www.irmi.com/conferences/crc/awards/horizon/howto.aspx.