Page 27 - Rosendin_Q2_2019_Newsletter

60,000-sq-ft Tempe campus, the company employs over nationwide, and DeWalt is offering the Dual Switch Band
6,000 nationally and about 1,200 in the Southwest region. Saw for sale to other construction companies.

“We trained and we retrained, we bought better gloves and Selling at just a slightly higher price than the single-trigger
Partner for Safe Dual Trigger Band Saw sleeves and still experienced injuries, so we stopped the model, the new band saw is safer and smarter. Workers

can’t tape or clamp the second switch to the support
use of all portable band saws and went back to traditional
stationary stands until we could stop the accidents,” says
the tool. The triggers are sequenced; fail to follow this
Greenawalt, a 40-year IBEW member who recalls his early handle; this was suggested as a possible scenario to trick
days dragging heavy portabands on job sites. and the unit won’t start. And, if either trigger is released,
the unit stops.“This has been the first time for me to be
The moratorium on portable band saws was effective at involved with this kind of collaboration of helping to bring
limiting injuries, but reduced efficiency, so Greenawalt an idea to fruition,” Marchant says. “This tool demonstrates
promptly talked with staff, in particular, the craftworkers. DeWalt’s continuing desire to make products that protect
“One said, ‘If you just had to keep your hands on the saw, our end-users.”
this wouldn’t happen. Find us somebody with a tool that
needs to run with both hands on it.’” At the Associated General Contractors 100th-anniversary
Denver convention in April, Rosendin won the AGC of
This configuration was not available, so Greenawalt America and Willis Towers Watson – 2019 Construction
contacted major construction-tool makers; no one seemed Safety Excellence Award (CSEA) First Place Specialty
interested. Then Towson, Md.-based DeWalt called back. Contractor for companies with more than 4 million worker
“They liked the idea,” he recalls. “They saw the inherent hours. The new dual-trigger band saw was the centerpiece
danger and said, ‘We can do that.’” for the company at the event.

DeWalt is owned by Stanley Black & Decker, New Britain, Employees are returning from jobsites and reporting their
Conn. approval, and injuries have already been significantly
reduced, says Greenawalt, who was gifted the first
Directed by Joe Marchant, regional sales manager for the production unit, 000001, from Marchant and DeWalt.
company’s construction trades division in Salt Lake City, the
DeWalt team designed and created a prototype in just six He compares it to the first blade guard on a skill saw
weeks. Greenawalt and Rosendin workers tested it both decades ago. “There’s no reason for any prudent contractor
in the company’s fabrication shop and in the field before not to buy this tool and move forward with the industry.
suggesting some changes for convenience and durability. We’d like to see every tool that has two handles also have
Reprint from ENR Southwest | By David M. Brown Marchant, working with the product team at DeWalt, two switches to keep your hands on the tool.”
penciled the project to ensure profitability, beta-tested the The new band saw aligns with the company’s safety-first
bout two years ago, Mike Greenawalt, senior vice president of tool and, approximately a year and a half later, in October culture: care, share, listen and innovate. “It’s good to
operations for Rosendin Electric, noticed that injuries by employees 2018, began manufacturing and shipping product. Rosendin protect our workers,” he says. “We want them to go home
Ausing portable band saws were increasing as the company staffed up is in the process of purchasing these for its operations every night, with no cuts, bruises or scars.”
for the robust construction market.

Even normally careful workers were operating the newer, lighter and more
powerful cordless units with just one hand even though they are designed
for two: the dominant hand on the trigger handle and the other on a support
handle across from it. Streamlining to improve the tool’s efficiency and
flexibility had come with an unexpected hazard.

“Everyone wanted a portable band saw but many were misusing it. Some
workers were using their free hand to catch the falling piece of pipe or strut,
and they suffered some pretty bad injuries to their hands and wrists as the
saw completed its cut,” says Greenawalt, who leads the Southwest and Mid-
Atlantic divisions for the San Jose, Calif., contractor.

ENR ranks Rosendin No. 7 nationally in the Top 600 Specialty Contractors and
No. 3 for the electrical sector. For the Southwest, the company is the No. 5
overall specialty contractor and No. 3 for electrical. From the approximately

26 The Feeder | Issue 2, 2019 Issue 2, 2019 | The Feeder 27
Photo Steve Zylius / UCI