Jimmie W. Hinze, 67, a well-known construction safety researcher and champion, died on Sept. 12 in College Station, Texas, of cancer. He served, most recently, as director of the Fluor Program for Construction Safety at the University of Florida, Gainesville, and previously led its M.E. Rinker School of Building Construction.

HINZIE

Hinze's research "was groundbreaking and unprecedented and provided the technical foundation for significant aspects of contemporary approaches to construction safety," says Robert Ries, the current Rinker school director.

In August, Hinze presented research findings focused on jobsite hazards to an international safety conference in Islamabad, Pakistan. "He helped the industry understand that safety excellence is good business and that zero [recordable incidents] is possible," says Wayne Crew, director of the Construction Industry Institute, with which Hinze had a nearly three-decade research relationship.

Hinze, who earned a doctorate from Stanford University and served on several engineering-school faculties, helped develop, in the late 1970s, federal trenching safety standards that are still implemented today, according to an online obituary.

CII cited Hinze this year for his "insightfulness in the value of leading indicators, not only as static contractual requirements, but also as measurable performance metrics."

Among numerous career awards, he was inducted into the National Academy of Construction.