Archive for September, 2014

Egan Named One of America’s Safest Companies

Monday, September 22nd, 2014

DSC_0579_editMINNEAPOLIS, MN (September 22, 2014) – EHS Today selected Egan Company as one of America’s Safest Companies for its commitment to worker safety and health.

The America’s Safest Companies Class of 2014 represent safety excellence and come in all shapes and sizes, from firms with a few dozen employees to multinational corporations with tens of thousands of employees. And they have one thing in common: They believe there’s nothing more important than protecting their workers, the environment, and the communities in which they operate.

“Safety is woven into every aspect of Egan’s culture,” said Larry Hanson, Egan Company Safety Director. “A common sentiment is that construction is a dangerous business and accidents are bound to happen. Our company’s approach will never accept this view as the standard. Safety is a top-to-bottom priority here at Egan.”

Egan Company maintains an ongoing, aggressive commitment to provide all employees with a safe and healthy place of employment. Through its safety program, on-going safety training, safety policy and practices, and a full-time safety team, employees are given knowledge and skills to ensure their own safety in the workplace.

“Our motto is ‘Safety Brings You Home,’” said Jim Malecha Egan Company President & CEO. “Several years ago, we looked at adopting slogans like ‘Zero Injuries’ or ‘Target Zero.’ We felt these concepts were more about statistics than about our employees. We wanted a saying that emphasized to our employees that safety was about them and their families.”

All award recipients will be honored at EHS Today’s Safety Leadership Conference in Indianapolis on October 28. A feature will be published in a special section in the November issue of EHS Today magazine.

About Egan Company

Egan Company is a specialty contractor that represents over 15 skilled trade unions serving virtually every infrastructure discipline in the industry. Core services include: electrical, mechanical, millwrights, industrial and building automation, curtainwall/glass, and service. Egan serves every stage of a building and provides in-house expertise in planning, design, building, and maintenance. Egan’s OSHA Recordable Incident Rate was 2.13 for 2013, which is substantially below the average rate of 6.80 for specialty trade contractors in Minnesota. For more information, visit www.eganco.com.

About EHS Today

EHS Today, formerly known as Occupational Hazards, is a part of Penton Media, Inc. The publication informs safety, health, and industrial hygiene professionals in the manufacturing, construction, and service sectors about trends, management strategies, regulatory news, and new products that help them provide safe and healthy work sites. Since 2002, America’s Safest Companies has honored 174 organizations for their unwavering commit­ment to worker safety and health and environmental stewardship.

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 Media Contact:

Jessica Johnson  //  jkjohnson@eganco.com  // 763-595-4310

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Compressed Schedule Calls for Cross-Trade Coordination

Saturday, September 20th, 2014

lakes_internationalThe side-effects of the deluge of rain we received this last spring are still being felt today. On top of flooding and lake closures, there was a direct impact on construction projects that had to push back start dates because of wet soil.

New building construction for the Lakes International Language Academy (LILA) adopted an aggressive new timeline to combat this obstacle. The K-6 charter school looked to build upon the success of its tuition-free immersion program (Spanish or Chinese) that follows an accredited International Baccalaureate Primary Years curriculum in the form of a new facility.

The rain, while good for flowers, turned the work site into a challenge. The foundation’s soil turned to soft clay, making for a less-than-ideal work environment. In fact, a concrete composite had to be mixed into areas where soil integrity was most vulnerable, effectively turning the school’s new parking lot into a great big cinder block.

highres_lakes_smallerEgan’s Electrical, Mechanical, and Building Systems & Services groups partnered with general contractor Kraus-Anderson to find a way to get the job done on time.

Collaboration between Egan and Kraus-Anderson’s Project Manager Jake Boerboon and Superintendent Jesse Fiskewold were essential to project success. Even closer coordination was required than is customary for a project like this. Potentials for lost-time or further delays were addressed and resolved before the fact, creating an extremely well-organized work model.

Design/Build was also a huge factor in facilitating the accelerated timeline. Thanks to Egan doing the design and construction, many issues were resolved before they could reach the field. Without this, on-site problem solving would be a necessity and could have delayed the project further.

The construction team benefited greatly from prefabrication on this project. Circuits and feeders were crafted in-house and pre-assembly of the duct helped reduce installation time in the field. Close coordination between mechanical and electrical also minimized penetrations in the precast and allowed coordination of hanger systems, nearly cutting the initial estimate time in half.

Egan also supplied the academy’s building automation system. The weather delay shortened the installation timeframe significantly, requiring work to be completed in about a week.

The project finished on time, giving the school about two weeks to furnish and organize the building to be student-ready for the Fall.

The Lakes International Language Academy Project is a newly constructed, 43,000 square foot, two-story facility that included two parking lots and a gymnasium. The building’s automation system included integrating seven Lennox RTUs, installing controls on VAV boxes, and interlocking the kitchen make up unit with miscellaneous exhaust fans.

Core project team: LILA Building Co. and Kraus-Anderson Construction Company

Egan services performed: Design Build of Mechanical, Plumbing, Electrical Systems, and Building Automation Systems

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Summer of School Upgrades and Installs

Friday, September 19th, 2014

anoka-hennepin-school-outsideEvery summer, Egan Company’s Building Systems & Services (BSS) group upgrades or installs new building automation or fire systems in schools across Minnesota and Wisconsin.

Egan completed work this summer in over eight school districts, including St. Paul Public Schools, Eden Prairie Schools, Anoka-Hennepin School District, School District of Clear Lake, and St. Michael-Albertville School District. All of this work is compressed into a three-month timeframe and equates to over 20,000 hours of manpower.

The building automation system controls everything from air handling units to VAV boxes to pool converters to lighting. Many schools also incorporate energy efficient systems to produce lower utility bills. The fire systems in the schools provide smoke management systems, advance detection, voice evacuation and exit technology, and sprinkler system monitoring.

The installation of these two systems can prove challenging, especially in such a short timeframe; however, Egan simplifies the project process by providing system engineering, design, installation, and start-up and commissioning to finish the job quickly.

All systems were updated before school started this Fall. Year round, Egan also provides maintenance to these–and other–school districts.

“Every summer we roll up our sleeves for various schools,” said Tom Addabbo, Egan Account Manager. “It’s always a challenge to help bring these schools back online before the school year starts. Fortunately, our field team does it year after year and knows what it takes to meet these tight timelines.”

Summer 2014 Numbers At-a-Glance

  • 4,505 hours of building automation system setup, engineering, graphics, and drafting
  • 11,290 hours of building automation field installs
  • 1,681 hours of building automation commissioning
  • 4,900 hours of fire systems field installs
  • 538 hours of fire systems testing and inspection

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New Position Created to Support Growth and Drive consistency

Thursday, September 18th, 2014

DuaneH_800MINNEAPOLIS, MN (September 18, 2014) – Egan Company, a Brooklyn Park specialty contractor, announced that Executive Vice President Duane Hendricks has been elected Chief Operating Officer, a new position within Egan. In this role, he will be responsible for leading overall efficiencies and processes for all business operations including project execution, financial accountability, labor tracking, scheduling, and purchasing. Prior to this promotion, Hendricks was responsible for leading the overall strategy and execution for Egan’s electrical business group.

“Duane is an influential and trusted leader who is uniquely qualified to drive operational consistency and continued growth within Egan,” said Jim Malecha, Egan Company President and CEO. “Egan is investing for the future, and the new position of Chief Operating Officer is essential to that effort. We expect Duane to bring immediate leadership and a centralized focus on continued operational excellence.”

Hendricks joined Egan in 2002 as part of the acquisition of Comm-Tech Electrical, of which he was an owner. He has been in the construction industry for 28 years and has held positions of increasing responsibilities. His leadership experience includes roles within engineering, estimating, project management, sales, and operations management. He has a degree in Electrical Construction and Controls from Minneapolis Community and Technical College. Hendricks has also held previous leadership roles within the National Electrical Contractors Association.

“It’s an exciting time at Egan and I am honored to lead the overall operations into the Company’s next phase of business growth,” said Hendricks. “Egan has established strong customer and business partnerships and I look forward to aligning all operational practices to enhance both Egan’s market leadership and our overall customer experience.”

About Egan Company:

Egan Company is a fully integrated, specialty contractor that delivers attention, commitment, and craftsmanship to every project. Egan provides in-house expertise in planning, design, engineering, construction, and maintenance. The Company represents over 15 skilled trade unions serving virtually every infrastructure discipline in the industry. Core services include: electrical, mechanical, millwrights, industrial and building automation, curtainwall/glass, and service. For more information about Egan Company, visit www.eganco.com.

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 Media Contact:  

Jessica Johnson  //  jkjohnson@eganco.com  //  763-595-4310

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Technology bands Egan Together

Wednesday, September 17th, 2014

jim-nonnJim Nonn, Egan Company’s Chief Information Officer hadn’t planned for this. As he watched the antenna wave in the -20 degree wind chill, he thought, “This isn’t going to work.”

The antenna was part of a new “air-fiber” connection that sends/receives data from Egan’s corporate headquarters to Egan’s Industrial Controls group about a mile away at speeds of 1.4 Gigabytes/second. The connection consisted of two antennae on top of each building that needed direct, uninterrupted line-of-sight to each other.

Minnesota’s December weather had other plans. Not only was the antenna failing to stay put in the freezing wind, but it was also too short. Line-of-sight to Industrial Controls was cut off by another building. If these antennae failed to work, the Industrial Controls employees may as well have not shown up to work next Monday.

With the help of Egan pipefitters and low-voltage electrical employees, a team was formed to find a solution.

A taller, sturdier tower was fabricated in Egan’s pipe shop, customized electrical wiring was rigged to it, and a bucket truck and crane were procured to safely install the new equipment. All of this was completed same-day.

“It’s one of those times when I’m really glad I work at Egan, not just because of our construction capabilities, but the fact that people are willing to drop everything and help when you need it most,” Nonn said.

Both antennae have needed minimal maintenance since that icy December day, and connection speeds between Egan locations have been consistently superior.

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Collaboration with millwrights for safety, precision, and speed

Monday, September 15th, 2014

On a Tuesday afternoon, Egan Company was tasked with a project: Daktronics, a scoreboard and electronic display company, needed help to safely raise 3,000 pounds of cable dangling 150 feet from the Xcel Energy Center ceiling. And it had to be done in 72 hours.

The scoreboard had been lowered, taken apart, and left in the middle of the Xcel with wires dangling from the ceiling. In three days, the Xcel needed to be set up for a Rod Stewart concert. Xcel thought the wires could be raised and set on the catwalks high above the floor; however, the catwalks could not support the weight of the cables.

Further situation analysis by Egan’s Electrical Foreman, Project Manager, and Safety Director led to a concern with safety.

They concluded that a millwright needed to be involved to ensure the cables were lifted and installed safely. Egan Certified Millwright Marc Beltz met the team at the Xcel to determine a safe solution.

Egan’s millwright team is safe, efficient, and thorough. They understand what is needed to make the project work and that the needs of the client are to be met.

–Jason Hanlon, Braun Intertec Associate Principal/Senior Structural Engineer

Since 1999, Egan Company has offered millwright services to customers. Millwrights specialize in safely moving heavy equipment and the precise alignment of machines. Essentially, a millwright is an industrial mechanic.

Beltz and the electrical team partnered with Braun Intertec to develop a plan to raise the cables. Braun Intertec engineered rigging that met Egan’s objective to safely lift the heavy cables. The design was completed by early afternoon on Wednesday and the steel rig was fabricated on site by the Egan millwright team the next day.
millwright3

Egan’s millwright team understands that all procedures, design, and construction need to meet certain standards and requirements before the work can be completed,

said Jason Hanlon, Associate Principal/Senior Structural Engineer at Braun Intertec.

It takes more than just muscle to complete a job like this. Egan millwrights work with a high degree of precision and certainty to ensure proper installation of heavy materials. Once a precise and safe installation procedure was established on Thursday, the cables was lifted and installed in the ceiling in time for fans to enjoy the Rod Stewart concert.
Beltz attributes the success of this job to the great collaboration between groups at Egan.

We have the opportunity to work with every group at Egan and also collaborate with engineering firms,

Beltz said. “We’re proud to offer millwright services to customers.”

Beyond precisely moving heavy equipment, Egan millwright services also include welding, machinery installation, rigging, preventative maintenance for mechanical equipment, optical and laser alignment, and custom fabrication.
Primarily, Egan millwrights work in the power plant, foundry, food production, and manufacturing industries.

“We provide specialized services that you can’t get from anyone else but a millwright,” Beltz said. “If it moves, you need a millwright.”

Historically, the “mill” in millwright comes from building and maintaining flour mills, paper mills, and sawmills powered by wind and water. Though the trade has evolved since then, the basic idea is the same: to provide customers with necessary services to keep industries producing.

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Egan Pipefitter Places Third

Sunday, September 14th, 2014

Jesse Posusta, Egan Pipefitter Apprentice, placed third in the United Association 4th District Regional Apprentice Contest in Mokena, Illinois. In the contest, apprentices demonstrate the skills they learned throughout their certified five-year training program.

In order to qualify for the regional contest, Posusta placed first in the Pipefitter category at the Minnesota Apprentice Contest, representing Minneapolis Pipefitters Local Union 539.

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