Safety is more than an obligation: it’s a mindset. At Structure Tone New York, safety also means looking out for one another, particularly during projects, resulting in minimal injuries and incidents on jobsites.
Safety is paramount for one of Structure Tone’s most recent frequent collaborators—Google. While Google keeps billions of people safe online, Googlers need places to work and safe construction partners to build those spaces. To that effect, Google’s Construction EHS Team designed a Construction Stewardship Safety Award, recognizing general contractors who demonstrate a cultural commitment to safety, including innovative programs with active employee participation and training, zero worksite fatalities, outstanding hazard identification/control, and mindful injury prevention.
“The very essence of this award is to illustrate Google’s dedication to safety. We’re excited to honor the general contractors who have successfully integrated safety into their businesses and have exceeded expectations,” explains John Brix, global EHS program manager, consulting for Google. In September 2023, Structure Tone New York was awarded Google’s Construction Stewardship Safety Award for the East Coast Americas region, as well as Best Overall for the Americas.
“These awards highlight Structure Tone’s dedication to promoting a safe work environment, which utilizes innovative approaches, to achieve a truly interdependent safety model, all the while exceeding Google’s contractual safety obligations,” Brix emphasizes.
This is the first year the award has been given out and it’s a huge recognition for the Structure Tone team, as 17 different contractors from across the country were in the running to win. Next year, Google plans to roll out a global program and Structure Tone will have eyes on that prize.
Structure Tone was also honored for their approach to safety by the Building Trades Employers Association of New York (BTEA) with a Project Safety Award for Project Martha, the renovation of St. John’s Terminal at 550 Washington Street, a 1.3Msf joint venture with Turner Construction.
Peak workforce levels hit 889, with average headcount hovering around 555. The team completed over 8,000 daily pretask plans, submitted 1,300 toolbox talks, conducted 3,200 safety orientations, and performed over 2,400 third-party safety audits. Structure Tone also assigned a site-specific safety manager, responsible for maintaining a safe work environment and coordinating directly with Google.
