Kentucky Lock Contractor Reaches Safety Milestone

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Nashville District, in partnership with the contractor currently working on the Kentucky Lock project, Thalle Construction, celebrated a significant safety milestone with a ceremony, July 30. The event honored the achievement of surpassing one million man-hours without a lost time accident.

For every hour worked by a construction contractor employee at the jobsite, the project accrues a man-hour. A lost time accident is a mishap with a severity that requires the employee to miss one or more days of work to recover. In over two years working the Kentucky Lock project, Thalle Construction has not had one such mishap.

The ceremony kicked off with a catered meal, followed by remarks from Corps and Thalle leadership.

Maj. Gen. Mark Quander, Great Lakes and Ohio River Division commander, expressed his gratitude to the workforce.

“We’re very grateful as we continue to deliver this incredibly important critical infrastructure project,” Quander said. “What we always say in the Corps is we are going to do stuff on time, on budget and safely. And I can’t overemphasize how important that safely part is.”

The ceremony acknowledged the hard work and dedication of over 350 workers involved in the project, which includes 21 safety professionals.

“It’s very exciting to me that we have a group of workers that wants to be safe,” said Bill Ryan, vice president of risk management for Thalle Construction. “We’re developing an important safety culture here.”

Also in attendance at the ceremony was Lt. Col. Robert Green, commander of the Nashville Engineer District, who took the time to recognize and award his commander’s coin to three individuals from the Thalle Construction team.

Green spoke about the importance of safety in ensuring a positive legacy for those involved in building the lock addition.

“I think that each and every one of us wants to go home and tell our kids that, ‘Hey, I was part of building that,’” he said. “And when they bring their kids back here, they can tell them ‘My granddad or grandma was a part of building that.’”

The new Kentucky Lock is scheduled to be completed in 2029.