EMCOR Group Safety Excellence Award - Excellence In Innovation

Southern Industrial Constructors (SIC) is recognized with a 2021 EMCOR Group, Inc. Excellence in Safety Innovation Award for developing a custom-made load securement device that has helped eliminate hazards when lifting and moving top-heavy, awkward electrical cabinets.

Working alongside sister-company Cherokee Millwright, SIC designed, manufactured, and tested “Load Securement Attachment Plates” or L-SAPs. The L-SAPs attach to the forks of a forklift and act as a sandwich, securing loads in place along with a rachet strap.

These portable, lightweight devices are inexpensive to make in-house, and, while they were initially designed to move electrical cabinets on forklifts, they have also proven to be effective for use on pallet jacks and applicable to loads of all shapes and sizes.

In the past, moving electrical cabinets had resulted in a number of injuries and property damage at the company, as the top-heavy items can easily slip and tip over during transport. Following one particularly serious incident in early 2021, SIC’s leadership determined they could no longer accept the risk associated with the task without a better process in place.

After reviewing current market offerings, they determined that a custom-solution was required to meet the needs of their highly-specialized rigging work. For design assistance, SIC partnered with fabrication specialists at Cherokee Millwright. First, prototypes were developed and rigorously tested in a controlled environment. After incorporating input from the safety and engineering teams, final sets were manufactured and sent to the broader team for training and implementation.

Since being implemented, the L-SAPs have helped SIC achieve an incident rate of zero for electrical cabinet forklift moves.

The success of this solution has increased employee involvement in safety initiatives across the board and motivated the company to take a more proactive, creative approach to safety going forward.