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The company takes a multifocal approach to safety. It initiated a Review of Employee Actions and Performance program, during which salaried personnel review individuals’ safety practices on a daily basis, marking a card. Management either praises them when all safety measures are followed or rectifies unsafe situations.
“It’s a constant reminder to keep your eye open for good situations or issues that need to be corrected,” Lindeman says.
Safety and project managers track the data to determine trends and identify needs for additional training. The company already provides heavy and light-rail safety and crane safety programs. Teams complete a job-hazard analysis at the start of a project and review and update it as conditions change. On a daily basis, the teams complete task-hazard analyses.
The experience modification rate for Archer Western’s Regional office in Arlington is 0.41. The company holds its business group leaders accountable for projects’ safety records. Project teams that show extraordinary effort toward an effective safety process and achieve a zero incident rate will be eligible to receive a Performance Incentive Award every 90 days.
Lindeman says Archer Western’s Daily Dose English Program also contributes to a safer workplace. The program helps Spanish-speaking employees learn critical English language and job skills while participating in a daily 10-minute “huddle,” during which they discuss in English the importance of wearing protective equipment, safe methods of working around utilities and ways of avoiding slips and trips.
Staying ahead of the curve Archer Western is an early adopter of technologies, including building information modeling for preconstruction and construction services.
“When BIM came out, we weren’t sure what it would do for us, but once we brought people in and developed it, it helped us a lot to bring information to the owners,” Lindeman says.
Archer Western now employs 28 full-time BIM specialists. It estimates project teams have saved hundreds of thousands of dollars and numerous weeks on construction schedules using BIM. The firm simulates heavy crane picks on a CAD or Terramodel system to make sure it works before trying a pick in the field.
Archer Western also uses a Global Positioning System on large heavy civil and transportation projects to avoid field errors, increase productivity and maintain precise quality control.
Giving back Archer Western believes in supporting the community. It donates to food banks and the United Way, encourages young people to consider construction careers and mentors minority- and women-owned construction firms. It helps disadvantaged firms, such as DART joint venture partners Brunson Builders and Carcon Industries, with networking and career and skills development by pairing individuals with managers and experienced leaders.
A formal mentoring agreement defines the protégé’s needs and interests, establishes goals for the mentoring relationship and schedules monthly meetings—all aimed at providing a clear direction that will allow the mentored firm to prosper.
“It’s been good for all of us,” Lee says. “We all have to continue to get better. By teaming up, we have become better.”
Looking ahead Archer Western plans to grow and adjust to changes in the marketplace. Lee anticipates transportation and civil jobs will get bigger, requiring more teams and partnerships and considering the jobs much earlier.
Lee also envisions more jobs requiring financing, either short-term or public-private partnerships, as cities and states face more constricted budgets. Archer Western is working as a subcontractor building bridges and retaining walls for Cintra of Spain on its SH 130 project in Central Texas.
“In the next five or 10 years, I see more and more privatization, and we need to adapt to that,” Lee says.
The Texas office also may continue to look farther from its home base, as it did in New Orleans, to cover more of the central southern Untied States and explore new market sectors.
Lindeman credits the company’s flexibility and nimbleness with allowing it to succeed even during economic downturns.
“The market changes a lot,” Lindeman says. “From an infrastructure standpoint, we’re not afraid to go out and get involved. As long as we keep an open mind to attack the work, we can build it. I’m convinced there is not a project out there that we cannot build.”
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