When Cleveland-Cliffs needed to replace another electrical contractor on the IronUnits LLC hot-briquetted iron plant project, primarily for safety reasons, they went straight to Craig Turnow, general electrical foreman at GEM.
The customer made GEM an offer: if they could immediately mobilize 18 electricians, they could finish the electrical work for the stacker reclaimer.
鈥淭he GEM team is making it happen,鈥� Turnow said. 鈥淎 big part of why we got the work is because we haven鈥檛 had any safety issues. All it takes is one recordable out here and I think there鈥檚 no way we would be offered work. It鈥檚 a risk for the customer to change contractors so close to the end of a project.鈥�
Planning the job before beginning a project is key, Turnow says. 鈥淭he biggest challenge for us on this project is lockout/tagout, and we had our lockout/tagout meeting before we started work. We also make sure we have all the safety equipment we鈥檒l need to finish the project.鈥�
Turnow adds, 鈥淲e鈥檝e been out here for 16 months and it鈥檚 a very challenging site. I鈥檝e been very happy with the electricians鈥� safety performance.鈥�
Building a reputation for being knowledgeable. Being willing to take on challenges and see them through. Being willing to 鈥渟cramble.鈥� And do it all safely, says Monte Goodremont, safety specialist contracted to Rudolph Libbe on the IronUnits site.
