“This is an unprecedented accomplishment of safety,” said Navy Lieutenant Commander Matthew Bedard, resident officer in charge of construction, at a recent One Million Hour Safety Celebration at the Base in Twentynine Palms. More than 500 workers, on each of these projects, have been working since 2008 to build new bachelor enlisted quarters for the Combat Center Marines.
“Once completed, the BEQs will house over 1,000 Marines and significantly improve the quality of life for the Marines,” said Richard Straub, joint venture partner of the Straub Martin Harris Joint Venture. “These are two of the largest projects in both firms" histories and as a joint venture.” Package 9 was completed in 2011 and Package 4 will be completed this year. The barracks feature sports areas, such as basketball and volleyball courts, walking paths, barbecue grills and common areas along with renewable energy features that will help the base’s goal for net zero energy.
Bedard and Straub attribute the success of the contract workers to a culture of safety that has been instilled since the beginning of the project — not only with these project teams, but also with adjacent construction project teams. Bedard said, “We"re not looking for safety as a priority because priorities can change; we"re looking for it as a culture. So we"re looking to drive it down to that individual guy to say "You"re coming here to work and that's good but we want you to go home safe every day. We don"t want you to compromise yourself by taking unnecessary risk in the field and compromising your safety."”
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