CDMSC Honors Members for Outstanding Contributions to Safety

The Council for Dredging and Marine Construction Safety (CDMCS) met in Alexandria, Va., October 3 for a day of safety discussions and presentations followed by an awards dinner in the evening. The annual dinner is a venue for presenting leadership and safety awards to industry individuals, companies and the government groups who have made outstanding contributions to safety.

The mission of the organization is to promote a healthy and safe workplace and to collaborate with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and member companies for best practices, Devon Carlock, president of CDMSC, told The Waterways Journal.

This year’s program program included opening comments by Carlock, who is vice president of safety and government at Cottrell Contracting Corp., and Troy Larson, safety and occupational health manager at for the Corps. Maj. Gen. Jason Kelly, deputy commanding general for civil works and emergency operations for the Corps of Engineers, also addressed the group.

There followed an analysis of industry and Corps incidents and trends, an update on site safety and health by Troy Larson and a report on total recordable incidents led by Forrest Ray, environment, health and safety (EHS) director at Manson Construction Company.

Pipeline Prevention Technology

David Zambrano, a student at Florida Polytechnic University, described the processes he used to develop an external alarm system to alert equipment operators when their digging tool approaches an avoidance zone, specifically a submerged pipeline. The system can also alert operators to any buried or submerged object that must be avoided. Zambrano did the work during a summer internship at Measutronics, under the mentorship of Lou Nash.

As an extension to currently available software warnings, Zambrano’s system uses external alarms including stack lights and buzzers, with logic handled by a programmable logic controller (PLC). His talk tracked his development strategy through a low-cost building and testing process and successful integration to create a workable external alarm system that will add an important layer of safety to dredging in the presence of submerged pipeline.

Coast Guard Harassment Policy

Coast Guard Rear Adm. Wayne Arguin Jr., assistant commandant for prevention policy, and Jeremy Gauthier, director of Coast Guard Investigative Service, addressed harassment on board vessels, which is now the subject of regulation for all inspected vessels on U.S. waterways.

Arguin described scenarios that will be considered harassment by men or women of others on board in an effort to increase awareness and prevent crew members from running afoul of the regulation. All vessels with certificates of inspection (COIs) now are required to have video cameras installed on board, a precaution already on tankers and larger vessels. Gauthier described the reporting procedures for all incidents, which are aimed at protecting the anonymity of victims and providing fair investigation of incidents.

Spillway Safety

Richard Vick, safety and occupational specialist at the Norfolk Engineer District, addressed spillway safety at the Craney Island dredged material placement site. He displayed before and after photos of spillway structures such as an unmarked ground level spillway, an aging wooden footbridge over a channel and a two-story spillway structure without safe access, all of which have been replaced with highly visible structures with danger warnings, railings and safe access points.

Stretchers Aboard Vessels

Craig Taylor of Pine Bluff Sand and Gravel described the use of a stretcher designed for safely immobilizing and moving injured people in confined spaces. Taylor said, after the company acquired the system and trained personnel in its use, crew members on one of the company’s dredges soon had cause to use it. When a death occurred on board the dredge as a result of a heart attack, the crew was able to remove the deceased person with dignity.

Awards Dinner

At the end of a day of presentations, CDMCS held an awards dinner where government employees were recognized for outstanding contributions to the safety culture and contractors and employees received awards for their contributions.

Harry Tolson, superintendent and safety leader for Kokosing Industrial, received an individual award for achieving zero recordable incidents on any project for three years, which was a total of 277,000 man hours. Tolson is responsible for operations on all of Kokosing’s mid-Atlantic dredging operations and engages his crews and management in discussions on safety on a regular basis. He has made numerous changes and improvements in Kokosing’s dredging operations since taking over the role of superintendent, after starting out as a deckhand and working his way up.

David Brandon, load handling specialist for the Corps, was recognized for his work in updating, maintaining and instructing the Corps’ Learning Center’s Floating Plant Safety Course #81 in New Orleans. He joined the program two years ago when the course was about to be canceled for lack of experienced trainers. Brandon worked to build a team of instructors and add new classes to the course. His passion and commitment to the importance of floating plant safety has improved the knowledge of Corps employees who board vessels and floating plants throughout the world.

Herman Morris of Pine Bluff Sand and Gravel received an award for rising to the challenge of establishing a safety culture on a dredge whose crew lost many seasoned skilled employees to recruitment by other companies just weeks before the start of the dredging season. As site safety and health officer (SSHO), Morris started with 50 percent new employees or employees in new positions and embarked on intense safety training, real drills and effective safety meetings, ultimately contributing to preventing the dredge from a serious incident. He mentored three new SSHOs and set standards for safety, not with enforcement, but through teaching, training and empathy with crew members.

Erik Haruch of Cashman Dredging received an award for excellence during his 25-year career in the field of dredging, marine construction and safety management. Haruch’s employers cited his commitment to safety excellence, innovation and the well-being of his team.

“As a certified safety professional, Erik specializes in designing and managing training programs, providing onsite environmental health and safety inspections and oversight, and ensuring regulatory compliance in the Cashman family of companies, which includes Cashman Dredging and Marine Contracting, and has set new standards in operational safety, ensuring the highest levels of protection for employees and the environment, which has earned him widespread recognition,” the award stated.

Mark Adkins, the chief of safety and occupational health at Corps headquarters, was recognized for developing and executing safety and health policy and objectives across the worldwide command consisting of over 35,000 civilian and military personnel, as well as a contractor workforce involving 85 million man hours of exposure a year, most of which is exposure of a high risk nature. Adkins advises and counsels the commander, deputy commanders, directors and key officials on all safety and occupational health aspects of the programs and missions executed by the Corps of Engineers.

Leadership in Safety Award

Manson Construction Company received the prestigious CDMCS FY24 Leadership in Safety Award. John Roques, senior vice president and Gulf and East Coast regional manager for Manson accepted the award from Carlock. Manson’s safety program is at the heart of how the company takes care of its employees, making sure everyone goes home safely each day. The company’s commitment to safety is an effort from Manson personnel and industry partners who embrace the five parts of safety: planning, utilizing resources, training, employee engagement and communication. Every project is approached with a safety plan that is critical to managing and planning for onsite personnel, including crews, subcontractors and suppliers.

In a company statement, Manson wrote, “After decades of assessing safety risks on projects and implementing measures to prevent injuries, we have established an outstanding safety culture … where our employees proudly demonstrate safety knowledge and best practices.”

Newest Member

CDMCS exists to achieve an industry-wide safety culture with the goal of creating an onboard understanding that everyone must go home safely at the end of each day. There are 47 member companies and six members of the board of directors. Thirty-two members attended the Leadership in Safety Awards dinner, including the newest member, Heath Davis, CEO of Carolina Marine Structures in Virginia Beach, Va.

When asked what led him to join CDMCS, Davis said that he has worked for a large dredging company which was a member, so he was aware of the organization when he joined Carolina Marine Structures eight months ago as CEO. He is responsible for establishing a safety culture at his new company, which is a small business running two cutterhead dredges of 12 and 18 inches (with a new 20-inch dredge forthcoming), excavators, sectional barges and small hopper barges. Davis had been talking with Carlock for several months before joining the organization two weeks before the meeting.

“I come from the environmental remediation world where safety is paramount,” Davis said. “I was impressed with how everyone was ready to share their lessons learned and how the body itself was very willing to share their experiences for the benefit of the industry.”

In addition to the in-person attendance, 30 to 50 people, primarily Corps employees, participated remotely.