“Respect your hourly workers.” Ross Myers said he learned this valuable lesson from his late grandfather, Allan A. Myers.

“They are really the heart and soul of the organization. They do the work,” Ross Myers says. “And the number one way we respect our workers is to send them home safe to their families.”

The company’s “care and concern” culture has evolved since Allan A. Myers and his son, Allan C. Myers, Ross’ father, co-founded their hauling business in 1939. Three years ago, the Myers firm, American Infrastructure and Independence Construction Materials consolidated under one name “Allan Myers,” with Ross as chairman and CEO.

Earlier in his career, Myers said he struggled with getting workers to wear hard hats. Today, the Pennsylvania-based construction firm, which also provides asphalt and aggregate in the Mid-Atlantic region, has adopted a progressive approach to improve employee safety.

The Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA) Recordable Incident Rate at Allan Myers was 0.67 over the last 12 months. The national rate for “highway, street and bridge construction” was 3.5 in 2016, the most recent year available.

“Every year we work to get better,” said Senior Vice President of Corporate Services Bob Herbein, formerly the firm’s safety director. “What’s changed in our culture over the last 10 years is that we have really worked at embedding that attitude of care and concern into all of the leaders in the company. It can’t be just Ross.”

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