LONG BEACH, Calif, March 22— Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) today announced the winners of the 2017 National Safety Awards at ABC Convention 2018 in Long Beach, Calif. A total of 56 ABC member companies were recognized for their safety performance on March 21 during the 28th annual Excellence in Construction^® Awards.

“Associated Builders and Contractors is proud to honor members who have created world-class safety processes and a safety culture where every employee understands that the wellbeing of those around them is everyone’s responsibility,” said 2018 ABC National Chair George R. Nash Jr., director of preconstruction at Branch & Associates in Herndon, Va. “These leading merit shop contractors have shown a top-down, uncompromising commitment to safety and share ABC’s goal of achieving zero-incident construction jobsites.”

The 2017 National Safety Awards were selected from ABC member firms that achieved Diamond, Platinum and Gold status in ABC's Safety Training Evaluation Process (STEP) in 2017. During the selection process, they were judged on self-evaluation scores, lost workday case rates, total recordable incident rates, leading indicator use, process and program innovations and video interviews conducted by members of ABC’s National Environment, Health and Safety Committee.

STEP is the standard for developing world-class safety programs in construction and is designed to help both large and small contractors evaluate every aspect of their corporate safety and health program and identify opportunities for improvement. According to ABC’s latest Safety Performance Report, the best-performing ABC members STEP participants can reduce recordable incidents by up to 85 percent, making the best-performing companies 670 percent safer than the industry average.

The National Safety Awards are presented in three major North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code categories: NAICS 236 – Construction of Buildings; NAICS 237 – Heavy and Civil Engineering Construction; and NAICS 238 – Specialty Trade Contractors.

See a complete list of National Safety Excellence Award winners on ABC’s website.