Safety, Productivity and Quality

Rifenburg Construction, Inc. has always led the construction trade in advocating a safe worksite. With an Experience Modifier Rating (EMR) of 1.0 average for the construction trade, Rifenburg’s EMR averages 0.74, beating the average contractor by 26% for the past four years.

Rifenburg has won both domestic and international awards for our safety committee, employees, and safety practices. John Tomich, the Regional Director of OSHA was quoted “Rifenburg is breaking new ground in the construction industry, and I challenge all construction contractors to follow this positive example led by George Rifenburg.”

Last year Rifenburg won an international award for our safety practices on a 30-million dollar construction project in Western, New York from the International Risk Management Institute. A summary of the project and its accomplishments are attached.

With high-performing construction firms working at the “cutting edge” of safety and production, Rifenburg would like to think we created the edge.

For more information on our safety efforts and programs, please call us at 518-279-3265 and speak to anyone.  Everyone at the Rifenburg Companies is responsible for safety.

OSHA’s VPP and Rifenburg Construction, Inc.

“Both on the right track”

Rifenburg is proud to say we are one of the safest construction firms in Upstate New York. We have reduced our Experience Modifier from 0.89 three years ago to 0.77 last year. We have run across only one other firm with a lower experience modifier and were happy to find it was one of our subcontractors. Considerable work was needed to attain such a goal; however, our employees take safety seriously and practice it routinely.

We are aggressive in advocating further education for our people and see advancement of safety efforts as a great investment in our people. As a result of this effort, we are one of only two heavy construction firms in the United States to be awarded the OSHA VPP distinction.

Rifenburg retains a safety director who oversees both our New York and North Carolina firms.

Working with OSHA, we have developed an extremely efficient and effective method of dealing with near misses, tracking incidents and determining areas, which might need improvement. Due to the success of this program, we are now mentoring several other firms in setting up their own safety efforts.

Rifenburg sees its employees as family and due to a large, loyal work force; we do our best to keep them and our customers safe and productive. To maintain this safety effort, we formed the first construction safety committee in the capital district. Per the OSHA District Director John Tomich - "Rifenburg is breaking new ground in the construction industry, and I challenge all construction contractors to follow this positive example led by George Rifenburg". We recognize that keeping talented people on-board and healthy is the best way to retain a happy, efficient work force.

PRESS RELEASE

Troy, NY – Rifenburg Construction, Inc., the largest privately held heavy highway construction company in the Capital District, has received the VPP (Voluntary Protection Program) Merit Award from OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) for its’ Route 332 Highway Reconstruction Project in Farmington, NY. This recognition was achieved through a joint effort between Rifenburg Construction, the New York State Department of Transportation and each of the subcontractors involved on the job.“

VPP Merit Status requires participating companies to implement and maintain a safety management system that involves a high level of employee, owner, and subcontractor involvement. Qualifying firms have not only met the stringent OSHA standards, but they have gone beyond those achievements. Rifenburg is the first highway construction firm in New York State to qualify for this achievement and the second in the United States. They are one of only seven New York companies that have applied and been recommended for the VPP merit program. This recognition places Rifenburg Construction in the VPP fraternity of other companies such as International Paper, Champion, Weyerhauser, Georgia-Pacific, GE Plastics and GE Waterford.

Because of our history as a safe company coupled with our VPP achievement, other high-performance firms, many VPP members themselves, are now interested in partnering with Rifenburg on projects. For years, safety professionals have been preaching that safety pays and this confirms it. A safe work site is good for our business and great for our people. Without the efforts of each employee, safety will not work. We are pretty proud of what our people have done. Several years ago, George Rifenburg, President of Rifenburg Construction, decided to approach OSHA and look into a better way to protect our people before we got cited. John Tomich, the area director, gave us the help that we needed. As a result of these efforts, we have worked two full years at the VPP site and have not had one reportable injury. If that’s not proof working with OSHA make sense, what is?”

Rifenburg has dedicated an inordinate amount of time and resources to the development of an internal safety-training program. Over $100,00 is spent annually on safety and safety training. On-site and off-site training before each construction season is provided along with an annual safety day. Experts and staff in various fields ranging from sling safety to working at hazardous material clean-up sites present refresher courses.

The Rochester project is a $26 million DOT highway project including the reconstruction and expansion of approximately nine miles of highways, sewers, storms, water, and bridges. Rifenburg is working with over 21 subcontractors to complete the project in three years.

To recognize this achievement, Rifenburg will be holding two celebrations; one on October 17 at 12:00 pm at the site in Farmington and a second celebration on October 27 at 12:30 pm in Albany. These functions will be attended by representatives from Rifenburg Construction, the NYS Department of Transportation, US Department of Labor - OSHA, local dignitaries, and corporate safety directors from around the state.

Rifenburg Construction, Inc., with offices in Troy, New York and Raleigh, North Carolina, has been breaking ground since 1958. They are leaders in heavy highway construction, site development, mining, landfill technologies, utilities, and safety. The company has grown to over 350 employees and completes over $70 million in projects annually.

For more information on the VPP program, contact Rifenburg at info@rifenburg.com or your local OSHA representative.

PRESS RELEASE

Pit and Quarry Magazine AWARDS
HONORABLE MENTION TO RIFENBURG CONSTRUCTION, INC.

Pit and Quarry Magazine, one of the leading mining publications recently awarded an Honorable Mention to Rifenburg Construction, Inc. of Troy, NY. Rifenburg was one of only four honorable mentions awarded from over 90 corporations that submitted for the top honor of Producer of the Year from across the country. The overall winner was Elmhurst Stone of Chicago. Per Rock and Quarry, the award honors operations that exemplify outstanding commitment to safety in the quarrying profession. 

PRESS RELEASE

NYSDOT Awards to Rifenburg Construction, Inc.

The New York State Department of Transportation presented its Construction Health and Safety Award to Rifenburg Construction, Inc. of Troy for Region 1 and Region 4. The Region 4 award was given for a work zone safety program maintained by Skip Koontz of Rifenburg. This project encompassed a 25-mile high-speed highway reconstruction project in Rochester. He was recognized for his efforts in maintaining both traffic flow and protection of the reconstruction crews.

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