Siemens Holds Safety Luncheon

Please see below for an article that appeare d in The Hutchinson News on May 20, 2010 by Edie Ross.

Men in work boots, reflective orange vests and hard hats sat quietly Wednesday beneath a blue and white tent at the site of the future Siemens production facility.

Standing before them were executives from the project’s general contractor and from Siemens.

It might have been an intimidating group, but the news being delivered via a bullhorn was good, and the gathering was a happy one.

Kentucky-based Gray Construction called together its employees and the employees from the 15 subcontractors currently working on the project to discuss safety and to say “thanks” with a catered meal and prize giveaways.

Last spring, Siemens Energy announced plans to build a 300,000-square-foot nacelle production plant and an adjacent 80,000-square-foot service and repair facility near Airport Road and Avenue G.

In 164 days of work, which equals 45,000 man hours, workers have finished roughly 40 percent of the building, and have done so with only one recordable safety incident, said Patrick McCowan, project manager with Gray Construction.

That incident didn’t cause a permanent injury and Gray Construction is hopeful that the balance of the project can be finished without any additional incidents.

As workers filed through a serving line — getting their food from the executives that previously were standing before them — Jill Wilson, vice president of communications and marketing for Gray, explained that the company holds these “safety meetings” at every job site.

“Safety is our number-one core value,” she said. “We’re celebrating all the people who work hard to make it a safe work site.”

Kevin Hazel, Siemens plant manager, said he believes the project is going “extremely well.”

We picked the right partner with Gray,” he said. “One of our criteria in selecting a contractor was that it be a safety-conscious organization, and they clearly do put safety first.”

Hazel added that Siemens is still moving forward according to plan, and expects the plant to be up and running by the fourth quarter of this year.

We’ve had great cooperation from Gray and the local community,” he said. “We did our homework and chose wisely and everyone is performing as advertised.”

Dave Kerr, president of the Hutchinson/Reno County Chamber of Commerce, also was in attendance Wednesday and praised Gray’s work ethic.

We’ve been so pleased in working with Gray,” he said. “We’d have to give them an A-plus.”

Progress

As work on the building nears the halfway point, McCowan outlined the progress to date.

In the next week, workers will finish up the first phase of erecting the facility’s steel infrastructure and turn attention to the administration portion of the facility, where workers recently finished pouring the slab foundation. With that in mind, Gray has ordered a translucent and reflective type of glass — called Sage glass — that will enclose the administrative part of the plant. It will be several more months before the glass gets to the work site, but once it is installed, workers can start on interior finishing work, McCowan said.

Workers also have begun what likely will be a two-month process of pouring the 1 million square feet of exterior concrete needed at the plant, McCowan said.

Finally, the roofing subcontractor and pre-cast concrete subcontractor recently showed up at the site and will begin work soon in the areas where the infrastructure is in place.

The pre-cast concrete will be used to create 12-foot wainscot walls on the exterior of the building. Insulated metal panels will stretch from the pre-cast concrete to the roof, McCowan said.

Kerr, who along with the chamber, led efforts to bring Siemens to Hutchinson, said it’s a “thrill” to watch the facility come out of the ground and near the halfway completion point.

This is the kind of project you dream of and we are realizing that dream right now,” he said.