True safety lives in everyday care—not just policies. In 2025, top safety organizations recognized professionals and companies who put people first. These stories matter because they show that when safety comes from the heart, entire cultures shift.
Here are some of the 2025 Award Winners
Hensel Phelps
Award: AGC Construction Safety Excellence Awards – Grand Award, Building Division (Over 2.5M work hours)
When: April 2025
AGC honored Hensel Phelps with its highest national safety award. Their strength: involving employees at every level, encouraging peer engagement, and sustaining a culture where safety isn’t just spoken about—it’s lived.
Source: AGC CSEA page
Industry Leader Companies
Award: NSC Industry Leader Awards – Top 5% of NSC member companies nationwide
When: July 2025
Winners are selected based on their North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) codes, the lowest total incident rates, and employee work hours within their industry categories.
One 2025 honoree, Plus Power of Houston, TX, earned recognition in the 100,000–999,999 work hours category for achieving one of the lowest incident rates in the nation. Their proactive safety efforts—driving training, hazard identification, and employee involvement—show that care and prevention go hand in hand.
Source: NSC Newsroom
Dr. Steven Thygerson, Ph.D., CSP
(Brigham Young University)
Award: ASSP Safety Professional of the Year
When: May 19, 2025
Dr. Thygerson was honored by the American Society of Safety Professionals for his global leadership in safety education, research, and mentorship. His work has shaped generations of safety professionals and amplified the role of caring in preventing injury.
Source: ASSP announcement
Laurel’s Final Thoughts
They’re the quiet moments that matter most: when a lead hand pauses a task because something feels off, a new worker speaks up in a toolbox talk, or a supervisor simply asks, “How are you doing?”
Award or not, those acts of care build trust and cultivate a crew that protects one another. That’s the heart of safety. Keep making those moments count.
Bring Youngstrom Safety to Your Crew
No award needed to lead safety with heart. You just need a team that cares—and support to help make that mindset habitual.
Let’s bring Youngstrom Safety to your jobsite:
- Book an in-person or virtual safety presentation tailored to your crew’s real challenges
- Invite meaningful dialogue about your safety culture
Book us to Speak
We Provide In-Person and Virtual Speaking Presentations
We do safety presentations, anywhere in the country, for any shift, in any industry. Unlike others who share our passion for safety, we will not review regulations and best practices, although the choice not to follow them is at the heart of our message and the life we have led for the past 29 years. What we will do is paint an unvarnished picture of what the future holds for workers who choose ease or ego over safety.
In-Person
- 60min Presentation including Q&A
Virtual
- 60 min Presentation, including Q&A
When your team is spread across multiple locations or gathering them all at the same time is a challenge, Russ and Laurel can share their message virtually.
“The first time that I saw their presentation up in Michigan, it touched my heart in so many ways and at that time I remember thinking “everyone in construction, manufacturing, general industry and even small businesses should hear and see this presentation”. Nobody thinks it will happen to them. When you hear how one disastrous decision can change an entire family, their hopes and dreams, everything they were looking forward to, and hear how it can be shattered in a single moment, you realize that you have to change what you do. How you manage your workers. Russ and Laurel’s unflinching honesty and often times brutal descriptions of how one bad decision has changed their lives in so many ways, is something that every worker should hear. “
