ABC Pelican Summer 2023 Newsletter

MERIT SHOP MESSAGE

Summer 2023

Inside this issue

2023 BRTC Graduation

Page 06

2023 ABCLA Convention Page 14

Summer Event Pictures Page 17

2023 ABCLA Fishing Rodeo Page 22

Pelican Chapter, Associated Builders & Contractors

ABC Pelican is one of 68 chapters of a national construction industry trade association representing more than 22,000 members. Founded on the merit shop philosophy in 1980, the Pelican Chapter helps our members develop people, win work and deliver that work safely, ethically, profitably, and for the betterment of the communities in which we work.

Merit Shop is a way of doing business in which companies reward employees based on performance and encourage them to reach their highest level of achievement, and in which contracts are awarded based on safety, quality and value, regardless of labor affiliation.

MERIT SHOP MESSAGE

SUMMER 2023

Editorial/Design

Macie Morgan

Writers & Contributors

Bryan Knost

Ashley Rodrigue, LSFM

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE BOARD OF

Chair

Bryan Knost Wood

Chair Elect

Scott Callaway

Cajun Industries

DIRECTORS

Adam Landry

PALA - Interstate

Scott McKnight

BXS Insurance

Lauren Champagne

EXCEL Group

A Letter from the Chair 4

LWCC Update 11

LSFM Update 12

ABCLA Convention 14

Summer Event Pictures 17

ABCLA Fishing Rodeo 22

New Members 27

Table of Contents CONNECT

Secretary

John Cassagne

MMR Constructors

Treasurer

Ben Brown

Turner Industries

Vice Chair Education

John Freeman

Brown & Root Industrial

Vice Chair

Membership Growth

Michelle Hardy

Turner Industries

Vice Chair Member Services

Ben Fromenthal

Fabricated Pipe, Inc.

Vice Chair Governmental Relations

Lance Arvel

EXCEL Group

Vice Chair Outlying Area

Seth Lemoine

LEMOINE

Immediate Past Chair

Josh Rounds

Performance Contractors

Wes Mincin

Performance Contractors

Andrew Thompson

ISC Constructors

Shane Kirkpatrick Group Contractors

Lance Glaser Performance Contractors

Danny Campbell

Triad Electric & Controls

Alternate Board Members:

Josh Zumo

Cajun Industries

Colin Percy

Patriot Construction

Legal Counsel: Murphy J. Foster, III

Breazeale, Sachse & Wilson, LLP

LWCC Editorial/Subscription/Advertising

mmorgan@abcpelican.com

MEET THE PELICAN CHAIRMAN

LOOKING FORWARD TO FALL

By: Bryan Knost, ABC Pelican Chairman

We are a little more than halfway through the year, and the Pelican Chapter is soaring just as the temperatures in Louisiana are. With tremendous dedication from board members and staff, we are powering through our most recent strategic plan, having completed, or almost completed more than half of the strategic initiatives, with plans to complete more before the year ends.

Since January, ABC Pelican has welcomed 27 new members, with the help of the Membership Growth Committee. Both the Baton Rouge and Southwest Training Centers have safely educated nearly 1,400 students. Some of these students were recognized at the fall 2022 and spring 2023 graduation ceremony. Students received certificates of completion in crafts, such as, welding, millwright, electrical, instrumentation, mobile crane, heavy equipment operator and planning and scheduling on June 22, 2023, at L’Auberge Baton Rouge.

Along with our successes at the Training Centers, ABC Pelican has helped keep over 40 companies safe through the ABC STEP program, welcomed 100 rising leaders into the 2023 Young Professionals Group and hosted numerous networking and educational events. I will also note, most of these networking and educational events have been very well attended events, some completely sold out.

These accomplishments would not have happened without the participation and commitment of our incredible membership. Your dedication and effort do not go unnoticed. Looking forward to the fall, tailgates, football and of course more chances for you to get involved at ABC Pelican. Both Training Centers have kicked off their fall semesters and the calendar is full of events (visit www.abcpelican. org/events/html to view the calendar) – fishing tournaments, golf tournaments, and more!

Maybe most importantly, Careers in Construction Month is approaching (October).

Each October ABC Pelican and ABC Bayou invite over 1,000 students from local high schools to Lamar Dixon for Build Your Future Day, to

celebrate Careers in Construction Month. Contractors and other industry professionals are invited to showcase their skills to the next generation of the construction industry. If your company has not already been a part of this event, I highly encourage you to consider it – it is a great opportunity to inform the next generation of the benefits a career in construction can offer.

The upcoming elections will deem October a busy month. ABC of Louisiana Lobbyist, Carson, has been meeting with potential candidates to determine who we will support in the upcoming election season. Carson will continue to keep our members informed throughout the election process.

As always, ABC Pelican will continue to work side-by-side with our members to advance the cause of open and fair competition, create invaluable opportunities for our members to connect and sustain strong business relationships, and develop and educate the next generation of craft professionals.

100+ TRAINED CRAFT PROFESSIONALS

BATON ROUGE TRAINING CENTER GRADUATION

On Thursday, June 22, 2023, the Baton Rouge Training Center hosted a graduation for the fall 2022 and spring 2023 training center graduates. These students were honored by ABC National Chairman, Milton Graugnard, Cajun Industries and ABC Pelican ICC and Safety Committee member, John Cassagne, MMR, in front of their friends, families, instructors and supporters. Over 100 craft professionals are ready to safely enter the workforce due to their hard work and dedication at the ABC Pelican Training Center. Thank you to our MC for the night, Chad Pierce, EXCEL, and to all of the training center instructors who helped these students achieve their goals – this would not be possible without you. Most importantly, congratulations to these students. Your hard work has paid off and we look forward to seeing all of the great things you will do in the construction industry.

FALL 2022 GRADUATES

WELDING

Syncere Anderson

Jesse Aparicio-Torres

Marco Arciga

Nicholas Banks

Jerrell Barton

Joshua Browning

Delaney Carr

Roco Carter

Orrin Cobb

Lionel Coleman

Alyssa DeHart

Chandler Diaz

Ivan Guity

Destin Husser

Colin LeCocq

Joshua Luckett

Matthew Mahler

Cain Mayers

Preston McCrary

Jarrod Mule

Josue Perez

Jacob Persick

Dezmon Pikes

Terrell Scott

Brenden Scuderi

Kaleb Selman

Micah Thames

Holden Thibodeaux

Braxton Thibodeaux

Kevin Vazquez-Aguilar

Nathaniel Walker

Pernell Washington

Logan Willey

Caleb Yantis

Roco Carter

Chandler Diaz

Warren Eyster

Adrain Gauthreaux

Beau Gautreau

Dale Ginn

Treylon Jackson

Andre Jacques

Caleb Kidder

Carson Landry

Quincy Mack

Issac Marshall Jr.

Cain Mayers

Jaden Reyes

Albert Stell Jr.

Jevin Taylor

Holden Thibodeaux

Sara Vining MILLWRIGHT

Ryan Bernard

Steven Carroll

Antonio Cervantes

Blake Duhe

Brandon Favroth

Bradley Kinchen

Anthony Maggio

Trevis Nelson

James Pourciau

Christopher Williams

Ralph Young

ELECTRICAL

Shawn Palermo

Jacob Pellegrin

Shane Poinson

Sharon Ramsey

Rodney Scott

Zack Zeringue

INSTRUMENTATION

Owen Bertrand

Joshua Betit

Byron Broussard

Jean Paul Hayes

Ashaunte’ Johnson

Jesse Mallory

Theodore Martinez

Chad Oubre

Cameron Poche’

Austin Reed

MOBILE CRANE

Charles Dennen

Carl Dupuy

Kyle Ford

Michael Joseph

Darius Octave

PROFESSIONALS JOIN THE WORKFORCE

SPRING 2023 GRADUATES

WELDING

Kachajunior Bamugo

Gregory Barnes

Kolby Boone

Brenden Bourgeois

Eli Brown

Wilfredo Carballeira Torres

Zaire Cavazos

Gilbert Coto

John Deshotels

Dane Evans

Zachary Fuller

Ja’Quise Green

Canaan Hebert

Braden Herty

Jaqurn Jackson

Wyatt Kersten

Ty Lacoste

Adan Melendez

Carson Pickett

Carlos Romero Pineda

Juan Torres

Troy Williams

Zachary Fuller

Ivan Guity

Destin Husser

Jared Kline

Jose Najera

Kaleb Selman

Tyler Green

Cain Mayers

Ronnie Williams

Kade Williams

MILLWRIGHT

Perry Duhe’

Austin Franklin

Reginald King

Matthew Krizman

Chad Lofton

Juan Martich

Jacques Pecquet

Thomas Ross

Michael Scott

Wyatt Torres

Joseph Waguespack

ELECTRICAL

Christopher Cole

Brian Floyd

Brennan Gremillion

William “Chandler” Harrison

Joseph Joiner

Dillon Jones

Jordan LeBlanc

Dawson Lyday

Matthew Reynolds

Bobby Robinson

Jeremy Sims

HEAVY EQUIPMENT OPERATOR

Hope Deroche

Joseph London

Nicole Powell

Brandy Washington

INSTRUMENTATION

Kimothy Guy

Jonathan Kennedy

Zeke Mahaffey

Keenon Mills

Cordero Okello

Luis Vega

MOBILE CRANE

Manuel Avila

Chris Bertrand

Justin Byers

Joshua Carter

Kerry Dufrene

Jeremiah Jackson

Willie Moore

Braydan Parent

Mason Perrin

Dereon Smith

Robert Young

PLANNING & SCHEDULING

Christopher Dias

James Grant

Daniel Harrell

Adam-James Hennerichs

Nathan Leonard

Jamie Manuel

Justin Matherne

Kori Messina

Ramos Mitchell

Braxton Morgan

Mary Pepple Gros

Jesse Sanchez

Alonzo Washington

100+ TRAINED CRAFT PROFESSIONALS

PROFESSIONALS JOIN THE WORKFORCE

EVEN WHEN STORMS COME OUR WAY

We’re loyal to Louisiana workers.

During hurricane season, we focus even more intentionally on the safety of our policyholders and the protection of their workers. By promoting a culture of safety and reducing workplace accidents, we ensure Louisiana’s best days are ahead.

“ Having a thoughtful hurricane action plan in place before a storm is crucial. Our expert-approved Hurricane Preparedness Guide will equip you with knowledge, resources, and training to do just that.”

– Damian Simoneaux Safety Services Consultant

lwcc.com/hurricane

REIGNITING RESPONSE

AN UPDATE FROM LSFM

By: Ashley Rodrigue, State Fire Marshal’s Office Public Affairs Director

A lot of things changed due to the COVID-19 pandemic—for the good and the bad. One thing that was affected in both ways, in all types of industries, was training.

For some business sectors, there was an easy pivot to virtual training and meeting which, for them, was a positive. In fact, many have converted to this type of meeting and training permanently. But for the types of industries represented by the membership of this organization, the effect on training has been detrimental. There were fewer in-person trainings offered and fewer seats available when they were offered. Then there were retirements and COVIDrelated circumstances that gutted the depth and institutional knowledge so many companies relied on, especially in a crisis.

Training creates muscle memory in both the traditional muscle sense and in a brain function sense as it pertains to developing motor skills through repetition. Without the repetition that training offers, those “second nature” motor skills fade, increasing risk.

This is especially true for industry response teams. Many facilities lost both quantity and quality in their response teams and rebuilding those has not been a priority. It’s time that changes. It’s not only important for the safety of your employees and your response team but for the integrity of your safety and standards requirements records with regulatory agencies including but not limited to OSHA, EPA and NFPA. Don’t forget about medical training too!

While this gap in training for industry did not necessarily lead to missing advancements in equipment, technology and/or techniques, it has prevented keeping up with new experiences and occurrences that are learned in training through “war stories” of the instructor, but also networking of the attendees.

According to our industry training instructors at the Louisiana Fire and Emergency Training Academy (FETA), industrial facilities should be RIGHT NOW assessing what your response team looks like today and what they’re capable of. This should include having an accounting of the certifications each member of the team has and what certifications are needed for potential new members. After completing that assessment, start looking for available training in fire/hazmat, medical, confined space rescue, and rope rescue courses, at minimum, and get your team members signed up. And schedule as early as possible since training is in high demand across the board due to the 3-year-gap in training due the pandemic.

For your knowledge, FETA offers a variety of these types of courses, namely, a 40-hour Hazmat Tech, a 3-day Industrial Fire School for new hires, NFPA 1081 and a week-long Industrial Standard for Fire Training course. From the medical front, FETA also offers First Aid & CPR and Emergency Medical Responder (EMR).

We hope this is “old news” to your industries and you are already ahead of the curve on rebuilding your response teams. But if not, we hope this reminder helps you get your workplace on track with returning to its strongest state of safety!

Thank you for choosing to be appropriately informed, sharing this information with others, and advocating for safety with us!

2023 ABC OF LOUISIANA

ABCLA CONVENTION IN FAIRHOPE, ALABAMA

For the first time, ABC Louisiana hosted its annual convention at The Grand in Fairhope, Alabama. July 17 through 19, ABC Pelican members joined forces with ABC Bayou members to represent the Louisiana Merit Shop Construction Industry. The convention started with a Welcome Reception sponsored by Bottom Line Equipment. The next morning, we kicked off our Keynote Breakfast, sponsored by Turner Industries, with a presentation from Jim Murphy and Ret. Brigader Charles Campbell of Afterburner. Throughout the day ABCLA members attended a few other educational sessions, including a political panel moderated by ABCLA Lobbyist, Carson DeLarue and an IRA update given by Murphy Foster with BSW.

Thursday ended with dinner and the beloved Casino Night. Members played casino games while catching up with old friends and making new ones. Dinner was sponsored by Cajun Industries and Casino Night was sponsored by B&H Distributors.

Friday started with the annual family breakfast followed by a few more educational sessions including, a legal panel, security in the workplace (hosted by Performance Contractors) and a session about ‘Bridging the Gap’ between generations in the construction industry.

As always, we also hosted the annual Bay Bash (formerly Beach Bash) on Friday afternoon. Sandcastles were built, dodgeball was played, and ropes were tugged. This year, Bayou took home the trophy in the annual Bayou vs. Pelican Volleyball match – but don’t worry Pelican will be back next year to bring the trophy back where it belongs! Bay Bash was sponsored by Five S Group.

We ended Convention on Friday night with the annual Family Night – tailgate style. Everyone wore their favorite sports colors while enjoying tailgate themed food and games. Thank you to Wood and Grady Crawford Construction for sponsoring Family Night.

Thank you to all of our sponsors and attendees – we could not have done it without y’all!

LOUISIANA STATE CONVENTION

JUNE 12-15, 2023

2023 ABC OF LOUISIANA

GRAND ISLE, LOUISIANA | MAY 17-19, 2023

Each year, hundreds of ABC Pelican and ABC Bayou members gather in Grand Isle, Louisiana to celebrate and support the Louisiana merit shop construction industry. Thank you to all of our attendees and sponsors for your support and effort in supporting our association! We look forward to seeing you all back there in 2024Save the date for June 12 -14, 2024.

BIG GAME

LOUISIANA FISHING RODEO

2023 ABC OF LOUISIANA FISHING RODEO

NEW MEMBERS

US Fusion & Specialty Construction

Baton Rouge, Louisiana

Ferguson Waterworks

Baton Rouge, Louisiana

Rudick Construction Group

J&M Industries

Ponchatoula, Louisiana

Mobile Air & Power Rentals

Hammond, Louisiana

McGlinchey Stafford, PLLC

Baton Rouge, Louisiana

Gulf South Insurance Agency

Baton Rouge, Louisiana

Raba Kistner

Lafayette, Louisiana

Bayou Safety & Supply

Baton Rouge, Louisiana

NEW MEMBERS

Broussard, Louisiana

Gonzales, Louisiana

Tulsa, Oklahoma Integrix Corp

Prairieville, Louisiana

Baton Rouge, Louisiana

Picou Brothers Construction

Manuel Commercial, LLC

Arcoro

GRP Architecture & Interior Design

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