From left, Gordon "Boney" Jones, general superintendent, Bovis Lend Lease; Ray Montaigne, retiring safety manager; and Laura Cooper, site saftey supervisor, gather at a celebration of reaching 2.5 million safe hours worked at the RMH job site. Montaigne, who oversaw the RMH project from its beginning in 2006 until his retirement this month, was honored at the Sept. 16 event.

HARRISONBURG – Bovis Lend Lease, project construction manager for the new RMH hospital, has logged more than 2.5 million incident- and injury-free hours on the job site.

This achievement means that no employees have missed work time due to injuries suffered on the job.

Keith Smith, regional safety manager, Bovis Lend Lease, said that few construction projects reach the level of hours worked at the RMH site and even fewer reach this milestone with no lost time injuries.

“We believe it is our obligation that our workers return home safely to their families each day,” Smith said. “It only takes a second for an accident to occur. The Rockingham Memorial Hospital team has worked 9 billion seconds with no ill health or lost time incidents. This project is among the elite when it comes to safety performance.”

Gordon “Boney” Jones, general superintendent, Bovis Lend Lease, said the project has been submitted to Bovis Lend Lease International for a global safety award.

“The RMH hospital and health campus project is truly impressive,” Jones said. “It means a lot to me because I’ve always been safety-conscious and believed in safety, but this is the best job I’ve ever worked on, safety-wise. The most important part is that the workers out in the field have embraced the concept of working safe and going home at the end of each day just like you came.”

Bovis celebrated the achievement at a Sept. 16 event that also honored retiring safety manager Ray Montaigne, who oversaw the RMH project from its beginning in 2006.

“The Rockingham Memorial Hospital project embodied everything I believed could happen if everyone joined the incident-and injury-free journey,” Montaigne said. “I’ve been doing this work for 45 years, and this has been the most flawless project I’ve worked on. In the Harrisonburg area, there’s not been a project of this magnitude and complexity for a long time.

This was a job with a diversity of contractors. For many, this was one of the larger projects they’ve worked on. Regardless of background, everybody joined on the journey of safety.”

Bovis Lend Lease has a strong commitment to ensuring workplace safety and requires all workers on the job site to undergo a rigorous safety training program, according to Laura Cooper, site safety supervisor.

“I am very proud of everyone on this job site for their dedication to the incident- and injury-free journey,” Cooper said. “I thank all of the men and women in the field for their safe attitudes and cooperation. They are the ones who make this such an outstanding project.”

Currently there are more than 450 workers on the construction site daily.

“We are thrilled at the impeccable safety record of our partner in this project, Bovis Lend Lease,” said Dennis Coffman, director, RMH Facilities Planning and Development. “This milestone is a testament to the commitment of Bovis to ensuring a safe work environment.”

The new facility is slated to open in June 2010.                     

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