On March 22, 2009, Heaton Erecting, Inc. held its annual employee safety awards banquet. Over 70 employees and guests were in attendance to honor and recognize the achievements of "Team Heaton" for the year 2008. The STP award program was created thirteen years ago to track the safety performance of Heaton employees. Safety records are tabulated annually, and employees are eligible to receive awards at several different levels. In addition to individual awards, all Team Heaton members are eligible for an annual safety bonus check which is presented at the banquet.
Safety awards for the year 2008 were presented at the banquet to 98% of Heaton's employees. This was one of the largest numbers of award winners in the history of our program.  This is a significant accomplishment since our award criteria is very stringent. To qualify for an accident free year, employees cannot have any accident or injury that results in property damage above $500 or requires medical treatment.  Most of the employees honored were accident free for multiple years, and 2008 was the first year in our program that 10 employees were honored with over 7,500 hours of accident free employment. To provide a perspective of this accomplishment, an employee must work five years without any incidents to qualify for the 10,000 hour award level. Our top award winner, Bobby Merkison, has over 14 years of continuous service to Heaton without any accidents.