CH2M HILL Celebrates Construction Safety Milestone for Alcoa Bohai Project in China

Denver (PRWeb) December 18, 2006 -- CH2M HILL today announced that it has recently completed 500,000 safe work hours on its Alcoa Industries project located in Qinhuangdao, China with no injuries. CH2M HILL is currently under contract to provide engineering and construction management services for the Alcoa project.

Due to the project's remote location in China and a lack of construction personnel who have been thoroughly trained in systematic construction safety practices, the milestone is significant in displaying CH2M HILL and Alcoa's resolve to maintain a safe work site. The CH2M HILL team has risen to the challenge and is meeting Alcoa's expectations.

CH2M HILL currently has a staff of 28 professionals on site and the team is expected to grow to 35 staff in 2007. The firm says it anticipates working approximately 5 million field craft hours on this project.

David Rosamond, CH2M HILL's China Managing Director, recently visited the site in mid-November to congratulate the staff on this achievement and to present the entire site team with a safety award at an awards banquet.

"This is the best organized work site and in-place safety program I have witnessed anywhere in the world in my 40 years in the engineering-construction business," Rosamond said. "It helps when a client like Alcoa is totally committed to a safe work environment."

For example, Alcoa has leased and provided the steel erection contractor with several hydraulic basket man lifts for the steel erection at no cost to the contractor to greatly reduce the possibility of falls. This system enables more than 95 percent of the steel erection to be accomplished without any iron workers needing to be located on the steel works. These are extremely heavy and large steel structures to house the 150-ton overhead cranes.

Alcoa has also furnished large special canvas air bags to surround the unloading of trailers for additional safety protection during the unloading process. The organization and cleanliness of the site is excellent. All material is stacked on cribbing in a very safe and neat arrangement.

In addition to this project, CH2M HILL has recently completed three projects for other Alcoa business units in China, and is currently working on a new Alcoa architectural products facility to be built in Suzhou, China. Alcoa has extensive plans for continuing investment in China.

About CH2M HILL

Headquartered in Denver, employee-owned CH2M HILL is a global firm providing engineering, construction, operations, and related technical services to public and private clients. With more than $3.8 billion in revenue, CH2M HILL is an industry leading program management, construction management for fee, and design firm, as ranked by Engineering-News Record (2006). The firm's work is concentrated in the areas of manufacturing, energy, power, chemicals, pharmaceuticals & biotech, electronics, communications, transportation, water and environment. Recognized in 2006 as one of FORTUNE magazine's "100 Best Companies to Work For" and a "Most Admired Company," CH2M HILL has more than 18,000 employees in regional offices worldwide.

Contact

Brian Mershon
Phone: 864-599-4508
Mobile: 864-525-5378

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