Safety
No other aspect of our business is as important as the safety and well being of our team members.
SKMES takes several steps toward accident prevention:
- SKMES employs an in-house safety director
- Team members attend weekly safety meetings plus seminars and events, learning best practices and proper use of protective equipment
- Supervisors receive additional training several times a year
- Field bonuses, compensation and “safety awards” are tied to the safety record of individual projects and the company as a whole
- Jobsites are always drug-free by virtue of pre-employment drug screening
ShoffnerKalthoff’s focus on safety is obvious:
- SKMES has won numerous safety awards
- Our company has been recognized in national trade publications
- SKMES had a 2015 incident rate of 2.5 with the national average of 5.4
- We have had no significant finding from TOSHA or any other regulatory agency
- Our annual experience modification rating (emr) is .61


Our Safety Record
SKMES has an experience modification rate of .61.
Our safety program has a direct effect on your company’s mod rate. The mod rate directly affects the cost of workers’ compensation insurance. The average experience modification rate (emr) is 1.00 and simply means that a company has average workers’ compensation losses for their industry and will pay 100% of the annual premium that is set by their state. A company with a higher emr will pay a higher percentage of their annual premium; meaning that company has experienced higher than average claims. A company with a lower emr pays less than 100% and has had lower than average claims.
We have hit several milestones and received several awards for safety including:
- One million man hours without a lost time accident in 2017
- Over 900,000 hours working without a lost time accident.
- One year without a lost time accident in 2010-2011.
- Knoxville Convention Center’s “1 Million Hours Without a Lost Time Accident.”
- 2017 Commissioner’s Award for Excellence in Workplace Safety and Health
- 2012/2013/2015 AGC Construction Safety Excellence Award
- 2012 Tennessee Governor’s Excellence in Safety Award
- 2007/2008 ABC Gold Achievement Award
- See more…
In-House Training
SKMES has the ability to train all employees internally, in all aspects of safety.
