The California Construction & Industrial Materials Association (CalCIMA) unveiled its Excellence in Safety Award winners at the 2025 Education Conference in Anaheim, California, acknowledging the companies and individuals making safety a priority every day.
United Rock Products’ Irwindale Sand & Gravel Plant earned CalCIMA’s Large Aggregate Mine award. The mine installed a proactive program to track noninjury incidents, as well as a rake system on top of a hopper to allow clearing of material.
Additionally, the Irwindale Sand & Gravel Plant staged a crisis drill to help with communication and emergency responses, and CalCIMA says it fostered relationships with the local fire department.
The Small Aggregate Mine award, meanwhile, went to George Reed’s Table Mountain Quarry, which implemented red safety helmets for new employees, digital visitor management software and eye-level “story book signage” for customer trucks. CalCIMA says coordination between management and supervisor teams drove George Reed to the award.
In ready-mixed concrete, the Escondido Plant of Vulcan Materials Co. and Superior Ready Mix earned CalCIMA’s Concrete Plant award for its commitment to safety following a near-tragic accident related to brake failure on a mixer truck.
To reduce the number of times drivers have to exit trucks and prevent future accidents, employees at the Escondido Plant installed pneumatic tube systems to route delivery tickets. They also relocated water stations to combine operational activities in one place and developed an electrical circuit from cab door to parking brake to alert employees if the brake isn’t in use.
Individual honors
CalCIMA also celebrated several individuals through its awards program.
Carl Morello, fleet systems manager at Graniterock, won CalCIMA’s Outstanding Safety Leadership Award for launching an onboard telematics system with driver-facing and forward-facing cameras on a fleet of 476 trucks.
According to CalCIMA, Morello’s character and people skills allowed others to trust the implementation of the new system. As a result, it now allows Graniterock to communicate its safe driving to the community.
Alan Goede, mine operator at 711 Materials, was also recognized, earning the association’s Outstanding Safety Leadership Award. Goede, who is the sole mine operator at his site, made multiple safety improvements in his spare time with no addition of new equipment.
Goede put a portable crusher in a central location for observation and implemented the breakdown of the dry side of the plant to rebuild in a safer location. Due to Goede’s efforts, the plant received its first zero-citation inspection in 20 years.
Matt Wright, safety manager at Holliday Rock, was yet another honoree. Wright earned CalCIMA’s Safety Professional Award. Wright launched several new innovations with fleets, including truck-type specific training lists, a defensive driving program, an ongoing forum for drivers to discuss safety and real-time driver monitoring.
About the CalCIMA program
CalCIMA’s safety award winners are chosen based on essays detailing safety initiatives and practices at mines and plants. A panel of judges from CalCIMA’s Safety & Health Committee reviews and chooses the winners.
