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UCOR named one of America’s safest companies by EHS Today

OAK RIDGE, TN – UCOR is one of 16 companies across the U.S. that have been named to the 2019 list of America’s Safest Companies by EHS Today magazine. The list recognizes companies with exceptional occupational safety, health, environmental and risk management efforts. UCOR, an AECOM-led partnership with Jacobs, was honored last night at the magazine’s Safety Leadership Conference in Dallas, Texas.

UCOR award
UCOR’s Safety & Health Operations Manager Chris Thursday and Chief of Staff Ashley Saunders were on hand to accept the recognition in Dallas, Texas; image by UCOR

Every year, EHS Today singles out companies that meet specific criteria, including support from leadership and management for environmental health and safety (EHS) efforts; employee involvement in the EHS process; innovative solutions to safety challenges; good communication about the value of safety; and more. Included on this year’s list with UCOR are CSA Ocean Sciences Inc., IBM Corporation, Pratt & Whitney, and RedGuard. Since 2002, some 200 companies have been recognized, including Knoxville’s Denark Construction.

“Among the reasons why UCOR was chosen as one of America’s Safest Companies is its proactive introduction of operational and safety technologies to better ensure safety and successful mission accomplishment,” explains Dave Blanchard, EHS Today’s editor-in-chief. “As noted in UCOR’s application, the company is not satisfied with merely complying with minimum safety standards, choosing instead to set the bar high.”

UCOR President and Chief Executive Officer Ken Rueter said that this recognition of UCOR’s commitment to safety is an excellent way to kick off the new fiscal year. “We have 1,800 people working across DOE’s three sites (ETTP, ORNL, and Y-12). ETTP, in particular, presented formidable cleanup challenges with the legacy buildings and structures and significant radioactive and chemical hazards. So ‘safety is a prerequisite to all we do’ quickly became our mantra,” Rueter explained. “Today, every worker is empowered to ensure safety, including having the ability to stop work when they feel conditions are unsafe. That’s part of how we ensure that every individual goes home in the same condition in which they came to work.”

This latest recognition of UCOR’s safety program comes on the heels of the Department of Energy’s (DOE) recertification of the company’s Star status. This is the highest level of recognition for contractors through DOE’s Voluntary Protection Program. UCOR also received its third consecutive Star of Excellence from the Voluntary Protection Program’s Participants' Association in August. Earlier this year, Ken Rueter was named to Safety+Health magazine’s 2019 list of CEO’s Who “Get It.”

Clint Wolfley, UCOR Vice President of Safety Systems & Services, says UCOR’s strong safety culture wouldn’t be possible without dedicated employees. “We have the most committed employees and the most dedicated ESH professionals in the world. To achieve the level of safety we need for the type of work we do, has all employees have to do their part, and they do!”

UCOR is DOE’s leading environmental cleanup partner. Since August 2011, UCOR has worked to reduce environmental risk by cleaning up legacy facilities from the former Oak Ridge Gaseous Diffusion Plant, allowing DOE to repurpose the land and buildings for use as a multi-use industrial park, national park, and conservation area. The company is also cleaning up contaminated facilities that are no longer in use at ORNL and Y-12, reducing environmental risk and helping the DOE Office of Science and the National Nuclear Security Administration to continue their missions.


Published November 12, 2019








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