Viking Construction achieves Platinum Level in ABC’s’ STEP Health and Safety Mgmt. System

Bridgeport, CT Viking Construction has achieved Platinum Level in Associated Builders and Contractors’ STEP Health and Safety Management System. This is the twelfth year Viking has been STEP verified. These top-performing ABC members have achieved incident rates up to 278% safer than the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics construction industry average, reducing total recordable incident rates by 64%.

The real-world impacts of STEP are based on the findings in ABC’s 2025 Health and Safety Performance Report, an annual guide to construction jobsite health and safety best practices. Established in 1989, STEP provides contractors and suppliers with a robust, no-cost framework for measuring health and safety data and benchmarking with peers in the industry.

“Jobsite safety and the well-being of our entire workforce is always our priority,” said Anthony Gaglio, Jr., vice president at Viking Construction. “This STEP certification validates all the training, oversight, and communication we do every day to protect our team. With a healthy, strong and successful team, we are able to deliver excellence for our clients.”

“STEP will help any contractor or supplier reinforce their commitment to the well-being of their workforce,” said Greg Sizemore, ABC vice president of health, safety, environment and workforce development. “If we choose to lead, if we choose to commit and if we choose to transform, together we can ensure every construction worker goes home safer, happier, healthier and more fulfilled every single day.

“Transforming the status quo to set the expectation that all incidents are preventable creates a culture where health and safety are elevated to core values, a moral obligation for employers and employees,” said Sizemore. “Priorities change frequently, but values remain consistent. The tools in STEP, as detailed in ABC’s annual safety report, show the blueprint of how industry leaders and workers like those at Viking create a culture of health and safety and win and deliver work to communities without incident.”

Viking developed its comprehensive safety program and manual in conjunction with a leading safety consultant. This is combined with extensive training programs for employees and subcontractors to reduce hazards and increase knowledge of best practices in safety management. Recent training topics have included injury prevention, emergency protocols, environmental safety, and avoiding falls.

STEP participants measure their safety processes and policies on key components and the criteria for best practices through a detailed questionnaire, with the goal of implementing or enhancing safety programs that reduce jobsite incident rates.