Customer Spotlight: BL Harbert - Reaching New Heights with Exceptional Safety Performance
Risk ManagementArticleJune 24, 2025
For general contractors pursuing heavy commercial, industrial or federal construction projects, safety is a pre-qualifier. Clients with projects from power generation and oil and gas to heavy manufacturing place heavy scrutiny on a contractor's safety performance prior to accepting a bid. Strong safety performance may not guarantee winning a job, but it is essential to be eligible for consideration.
For B.L. Harbert International (BLHI), a general contractor based in Birmingham, AL, elevating the company’s safety performance was a critical component of its proposition for federal government and heavy industrial clients. Over a 10-year span, the company made strategic moves to strengthen its safety culture and brought in Zurich Resilience Solutions’ (ZRS) risk engineering to help. Through disciplined safety protocols and adoption of its safety-every day, every task, everywhere-mindset, BLHI became a recognized industry leader, ranking among the top federal contractors in the nation.
The Journey to Safety Excellence
In the mid-2000s, BLHI set a strategic goal to position the company to compete in high-bar federal and industrial markets where safety is a crucial pre-qualification metric.
To assess the company’s safety performance and culture, BLHI engaged Zurich Resilience Solutions to conduct a comprehensive evaluation of the organization’s safety practices – including a broad analysis of injury data, claim reviews, incident reports, and safety training programs. ZRS connected BLHI with other general contractors to glean insights on safety practices in their organizations. With aggregated trend data, ZRS helped BLHI build a long-term safety strategy tailored to their specific risks, projects, financial and growth goals.
BLHI Vice President Safety & Health Frank Wampol reflects, “Our company has seen exponential growth, particularly in its US operations in the last 10 years. Total volume for the US group in that period has nearly doubled. An important factor in this impressive growth is our partnership with Skip Osborn and the Zurich Resilience Solutions team.”
Key Actions Taken to Build Harbert’s Safety-Always Culture
BLHI was one of the first customers to leverage ZRS’ X-RAY program - a comprehensive organizational safety assessment evaluating all aspects of the company’s safety practices. Interviews across the organization, including with leadership, management, foremen, and crew members on the jobsite offer a full view of practices and outcomes. The analysis resulted in identification of areas of vulnerability, realignment of safety protocols, introduction of onboarding programs for new hires, and implementation of safety practices across all phases of a project.
Pre-construction planning and site-assessments were conducted through project completion, offering insights and guidance, targeted actions and improvements in all phases of projects.
Safety Training played an important role in elevating skill and knowledge across a broad range of safety functions. Training included: Safety Leadership & Accountability, Fleet Safety & Defensive Driving, Mental Health & Stress Management, Subcontractor Risk Selection and Emergency Action Planning
The Results:
Over the course of a decade, BLHI saw a significant reduction in loss metrics and a significant increase in project growth.
- Experience Modification Rate (EMR) dropped from 0.98 to 0.44
- Over 95% reduction in claim frequency and severity over 10 years
- Significant growth in project volume, nearly double in the U.S. over a 10-year period, driven by safety performance
BLHI reduced workers’ compensation claims by over 95% and, in the course of a decade, went from slightly above industry-average to best-in-class.
Safety’s Role in Supporting Financial and Growth Goals
As part of the safety review and strategic alignment work, ZRS helped translate safety data into ROI-focused conversations with Harbert’s executive team, demonstrating how investment in safety yields measurable financial results, including lower claim costs, higher bid acceptance, and better margins.
Showing company leaders historical and current costs of accidents and injuries, demonstrates the effectiveness of safety programs in financial terms. It is critical that safety professionals convey how safety practices support financial goals and strategic decision-making.
Our company has seen exponential growth, particularly in its US operations in the last 10 years. Total volume for the US group in that period has nearly doubled. An important factor in this impressive growth is our partnership with the Zurich Resilience Solutions team.
Becoming a Safety Leader Others Industry Players Aspire To
Having built a proven safety model, Harbert is now a resource for others in the industry. Contractors across the country look to BLHI for insights and guidance, marking a full-circle moment in their journey.
“We’ve come full circle. Now, others look to us for best practices and guidance. I’m thrilled to talk to fellow contractors and share our learnings to help them improve. That raises the bar for the entire industry.” — Frank Wampol
BLHI is a powerful example of what’s possible when organizations commit to a culture of safety.