...other owners that wish to implement a zero-accident policy. "It comes down to having a belief that all injuries can be prevented," he says.

There is a strong correlation between a contractor’s ability to manage a job safely and its ability to manage costs, quality and schedules, Krzywicki says. "It comes down to being able to send people home to their families at the end of the day. When you don’t get costs or schedules right, you can recover. When you don’t get safety right, people can die," he says.

Cutting Costs

But costs continue to be a major driver for owners. "The cost of building a plant, and particularly the cost of design, is very high," Sturgeon says. "We are constantly looking for ways to control costs." This price pressure has led many large design firms to seek offshore, low-cost design centers. "The problem is that we also need the high-end, value-added engineering that just doesn’t exist in low-cost centers," Sturgeon concedes.

Sturgeon worries that a lot of the entry-level hiring that is going on now is taking place in the low-cost centers. He fears that design firms are hiring local engineering graduates for these offshore design centers rather than staffing their U.S. offices with recent graduates from top U.S. engineering schools. "This means engineering firms are going to have to be very careful to hire the best people for entry-level jobs here in the U.S.," says Burchette. "Firms used to hire a bunch of new grads and groom only the best for the top jobs later on. They don’t have that margin for error now."

There also is a real concern among owners about where the next generation of construction craft workers is coming from. "The need for people in the skilled trades will be affecting the power industry in the near future," says Wargo of FirstEnergy. "We are moving toward another surge in environmental work and that will put a strain on all trades," he says. It also is putting a strain on costs, as craft wages are going up, he says.

Wargo also is worried about shortages of experienced supervisors. "Contractors are scrambling to keep top supervisory talent, as they are losing more experienced people to retirement," he says. "I’ve seen cases where contractors have brought people back out of retirement."

Owners will continue to press for lower prices, faster schedules, better quality and safer worksites, but they also want

to ensure the health of the industry. "Groups like CII and CURT exist to provide construction firms a chance to collaborate with owners on improving efficiency," says Burchette. "After all, we want to see construction firms make a profit and stay in business so we can work with them again."