Hello! My name is Charles LeCuyer and I’m part of the B.L.U.E. Program at McKinstry’s headquarters in Seattle. I grew up here in Seattle and I’m currently attending The University of Washington’s School of Industrial and Systems Engineering.

In late 2016, I started to look for a great place to work this summer. Luckily, I didn’t have to look far! McKinstry is so prevalent in Seattle, and I’d heard excellent things from who’s ever worked for the company. Now that I’ve been working here for a few weeks, I can definitely say that those people were right!

I started my work as a project engineering intern about a month ago, and I’m based at an active jobsite: the under-construction Roosevelt Light Rail Station in Seattle’s Roosevelt neighborhood. I’m working with James Postma (senior project manager) and Katie Arendt (project engineer). They’ve helped show me the ropes, and I’m now handling a variety of tasks: Daily pre-task plans, safety walk inspections, man-hour reports, earned value tracking, and assisting with submittals.

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“Blueprints” is a Spark series exploring McKinstry’s core business philosophies from our leaders’ perspective. This is the third story in the series, from McKinstry’s Chief Operating Officer: Ron Johnson

Most companies will tell you that safety is important to them. No company wants to be labeled as “unsafe” or give the impression that safety is secondary to anything else.

Now, many companies truly do value safety. I would even say most companies are well-intentioned when it comes to protecting their employees and clients. However, there’s an enormous difference between saying that safety is your top priority and proving that safety is your top priority.

At McKinstry, safety is our top priority and we work hard to demonstrate this every single day.

It’s an indelible part of all aspects of our business.  We have high expectations when it comes to safety because we know it’s the only way we can achieve excellence in all that we do.

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Nick Biesold, Mike Wilfong and Ryan Hough have cumulatively served for decades in the Army and the Marines. They’ve served in the air, on land and at sea. They’ve been deployed stateside, around the world on amphibious aircraft carriers, in Iraq and in Afghanistan.

As Memorial Day approaches this year, though, all three men find themselves in the same place: McKinstry’s safety department.

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