Phil D’abbraccio Recognized as 2016 Distribution Contractor Association’s Safety Person of the Year

Please join us in congratulating long time Hallen employee, Phil D’Abbraccio, as the 2016 DCA Safety Person of the Year. Phil is the Local 731 Laborer Shop Steward. He joined the company 16 years ago and his long standing commitment to safety leadership has been recognized. Over the years, Phil has taken an active role in expanding Hallen’s Safety Culture. He’s been an outspoken proponent for safety innovation. Phil took it upon himself to design and build our current safety product inventory and storage system. He saw a need for better organization and asked if he could tackle the issue. He not only came up with a better system to track and order items but he built the storage area where they are stocked. That was just the beginning of his efforts. Teamed with others, he helped to develop a jig for cutting flex pipe. This all but eliminates the risk of employees injuring themselves while trying to split flex pipe. Phil has actively pursued safer tooling from more ergonomically friendly shovels, improved nylon slings to non-conductive air lances. This all pales in comparison to his efforts concerning his invention and development of a new barricade bracket. Phil designed, developed and patented The Barricade Bracket. Through out the process he bounced ideas off of fellow Hallen field workers and the EHS staff. It took almost two years to come to fruition. Phil recognized the need for better and more efficient way to deploy barricades. His solution provides increased protection for our workers and the public. It not only allows for a more efficient deployment of barricades, it provided a simple answer to the ever increasing DOT scrutiny of our work areas.

Applicants for the DCA Safety Person of the Year award can be anyone within a company that the company feels has made an impact regarding safety at work or away from work. The award is not intended to be given to a Safety Director or Safety Manager, but to someone in operations, equipment, fleet, office staff, or other position in the company, that the company believes has demonstrated outstanding safety leadership. Safety leadership can be in the form of new safety initiatives or programs at work or in the community. The candidates were evaluated based upon a written description of what the candidate did with respect to safety, how was it implemented, and what impact it had at work or in the community. We proudly nominated Phil for this honor. Phil’s efforts serve as a daily reminder that Safety is everyone’s job at Hallen. He makes it a priority and it has had a lasting impact on the health of fellow workers and our company as a whole. We congratulate Phil on his well deserved award.