September marks Suicide Awareness Month, and at Aldridge, we’re taking this opportunity to highlight our ongoing commitment to mental health. Through our collaboration with Dr. Sally Spencer-Thomas and the University of Colorado, we've trained over 70 employees as Mental Health First Responders through the VitalCog program.
We are excited to announce the release of the Winter 2024 edition of the Pipeline newsletter as we celebrate a significant milestone: our 30th year in print. Over the past three decades, Aldridge Electric has undergone a remarkable journey of growth, innovation, and success. We've expanded our reach, diversified our expertise, and continually raised the bar for excellence in the industry. None of this would have been possible without the dedication and hard work of our exceptional teams.
At Aldridge, safety isn't just a priority; it's a deeply ingrained value that shapes our culture and defines our commitment to our workforce. Safety is not just about addressing incidents after they happen; it's about proactively reducing or eliminating potential exposures by verifying all adequate controls are in place. At Aldridge, we've taken a pioneering approach to safety, addressing the precursors to performance errors – also referred to as Brain Centered Hazards. We've taken significant steps to build layers of protection and tools to minimize the severity of incidents, and we're excited to introduce our Serious Injury Prevention program, known as SHOK – Seriously Hurt or Killed.
In the bustling heart of Washington, D.C., the nation's capital, something significant was brewing. COO Brian Mazzei and Safety Vice President O'Brien Mills, representing our esteemed company, were standing side by side with representatives from OSHA, the Secretary of Labor, and our distinguished partners. The occasion? The renewal ceremony for the OSHA Electrical, Transmission, and Distribution (ETD) Strategic Partnership agreement. This pivotal event marked a remarkable milestone, as the five-year renewal cycle signified 20 years of dedicated efforts to enhance safety in our industry.
Women of Aldridge (WOA) is a proactive initiative that actively supports and promotes women in the construction industry. Through various means such as retention, professional development, networking, mentorship, and access to resources, WOA seeks to empower women and contribute to the company's workforce diversity goals and overall business objectives. The initiative aims to foster a supportive environment where women can connect, build a sense of community, share ideas, and play a significant role in the company's success.
As part of A fiber optic project in Washington DC, our crews were required to move heavy power equipment from street level to station level. This often required a heavy cabinet to be transferred manually from cart to cart via team lift, from uneven ground or varying elevations which left less-than-ideal lifting positions. This exposed the crew to sprains, stains, and pinch points.
Keeping the body safe, one decision at a time. Take this unique unloading procedure that utilizes special roller attachments on a hi-rail vehicle to eliminate the need for extra physical labor when moving 300 lb units along the track. As part of our Making Safe Decisions program, we are always looking for innovative ways to foster safer work practices.
When working on projects that require water access, getting materials and manpower to the project site is often the most challenging element of the project. Traditionally access is provided by reinforced open-deck pontoon boats with outboard motors. While effective at providing access, the round trip travel time and site access limitations for traditional propeller-driven pontoon boats limit production and often impact productivity.
When drilling large-diameter shafts in rock, drilling and hammering the complete diameter of the shaft in one shot requires extremely large tooling and support equipment. Moving all of this equipment and tooling from shaft to shaft is not ergonomic, time-consuming, and limits the crew's productivity.
The city of Chicago has been working to add all-electric buses to its public transportation system as part of a 2019 commitment to convert 100% of its 1,800-vehicle bus fleet to electric by 2040. To finally add a batch of 20 all-electric buses to the fleet purchased in 2018, Aldridge Electric, Libertyville, Ill., installed three new charging stations for the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA).
Aldridge prides itself on leveraging state-of-the-art technologies to provide the highest quality project delivery in the smartest, safest manner possible. As the industry continues to increase the utilization of Building Information Modeling (BIM) and other new programs, Aldridge has elevated its focus on collaboration among our PreFabrication Department, BIM professionals, and project teams to drive planning and execution, and yield value-engineered outputs.
We are pleased to announce that Aldridge was recently awarded the Pepco Manhole Assessment Program, a 4-year project that includes the assessment and maintenance of over 60,000 manholes in the Washington D.C. region. Our detailed project plan highlighted our industry-leading capabilities with this specialized scope of work.
