Georgia Utility Contractors Association Inc. held its 2011 GUCA Hard Hat Safety Award Gala on March 24, 2011, to honor the 2010 Hard Hat Safety Award recipients. Awards were presented to members dedicated to making safety a priority for every employee. GUCA members and guests gathered at The Loudermilk Center in Atlanta, Ga., to celebrate safety awareness and recognize the overall winner from the chosen category winners.

The GUCA 2010 Hard Hat Safety Award is composed of categories based upon type of work, plant or pipeline construction, and if company man-hours exceed or stay below 100,000 or 400,000 hours.

By creating these different categories, GUCA was able to distinguish four companies who excel in applying their safety programs to all of their workers and job sites. The category winners for the 2010 GUCA Hard Hat Safety Award are as follows: 0 to 400,000 Man-Hours Plant Contractor: Douglas Electrical & Plumbing Company Inc. Douglas, Ga.; 400,000 plus Man-Hours Plant Contractor: Western Summit Constructors Inc.; 0 to 100,000 Man-Hours Pipeline Contractor: Turpin Inc. Lake City, Ga.; and, 100,000 plus Man-Hours Pipeline Contractor: Richard Harp Excavation Inc., Fayetteville Ga.

“Category winners are chosen on a number of judging criteria including written safety program, number of employees who have received OSHA required training such as competent person excavation, confined space entry, and first aid/blood borne pathogen training,” noted Scott Brumbelow, GUCA assistant executive director.

As with all awards there must be an overall winner, and Douglas Electrical & Plumbing Company Inc. Douglas, Ga., went above and beyond others and consistently put safety in the forefront for each employee and for each job undertaken by the company, according to GUCA.

For more information, visit www.guca.com.