Ameresco highly values the health and safety of our employees, contractors, customers, and communities. We truly believe that no financial goal, work task, client deliverable, or schedule demand is worth an injury, and that every Ameresco employee, supplier, contractor, partner, and vendor has a responsibility to work safely. An active and effective Safety & Health (S&H) Program whose staffing and functions are reflective of the company’s size, complexity, and operating exposures play a key role in the organization’s overall performance. Ameresco’s S&H Program was established to benefit first and foremost the employees and subcontractors it supports, but also as a safeguard and protector of the Company’s assets. Our safety leadership is grounded in five pillars: Field Presence, Effective Communication, Feedback Mechanism, Accountability, Benchmarking.
Integrated Safety Management Approach
Ameresco’s focus on safety spans our global presence, including safety committees that focus on operations in Europe and Canada. The company utilizes an Integrated Safety Management approach to perform our work and adhere to our core values for work safely:
- Define scope of work or task
- Analyze potential hazards
- Develop and implement safety controls
- Perform work safely
- Provide feedback to your supervisor to improve the process
Our worksites have a diligent focus on safety and health. Ameresco has a master safety plan that functions as a basis for site specific plans at each of our worksites. We require that every employee and subcontractor working on project sites receive training to perform tasks in a safe, healthy, and effective manner. This includes attending a project orientation prior to beginning work on the site. We also maintain an Ameresco Safety & Heath Program manual, which is available on our Company Intranet and is divided into 32 sections to provide safety policy and procedural direction to a wide variety of services and/or activities.
Trainings & Certifications
In addition to Ameresco’s health and safety protocols, our employees are required to complete companywide safety training utilizing our eSafety training portal. In 2023, our employees completed 9,147 hours of safety training, a 116% increase compared to 4,234 hours in 2022. These figures do not include the OSHA Outreach Training Program’s 10-hour and 30-hour safety courses and other external certifications that our employees hold, such as:
- Site Safety Managers, Construction Directors, Project Managers and Construction Managers hold the 30-Hour OSHA Construction Safety course completion cards
- Regional Safety Managers are OSHA Certified Trainers for the OSHA Construction Safety Courses
- Regional Safety Managers and Federal Site Safety Managers who are 40-Hour EM 385-1-1 Certified in Hazard Recognition under the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
- Construction Health and Safety Technician certifications issued by the Board of Certified Safety Professionals
Our focus on safety spans our global presence, including safety committees that focus on our operations in the United Kingdom and Canada. In Canada, Ameresco’s commitment and practices to foster a safe workplace have earned the Certificate of Recognition (COR™), in Alberta and its equivalent in Nova Scotia. COR™ is endorsed by participating members of the Canadian Federation of Construction Safety Associations. Ameresco is currently working towards COR™ certification in Ontario as well as pursuing COR equivalent in other provinces where we do not currently have an office.
During 2023, Canada received ISO 45001:2018 Health & Safety certification, which is valid until December 7, 2026. We are working towards achieving ISO 45001 Health & Safety Management certification in the U.S. in 2024.
Global Safety Ambassadors Program
Ameresco’s S&H Program is supported by companywide resources with leadership by our SVP of Safety, Quality, Assurance and Risk Management and executive oversight by Ameresco’s CFO and CEO. The team of experts features safety managers and consultants throughout the organization, who work hand-in-hand with subcontractors’ safety representatives.
In addition to our Safety Organization previously detailed, Ameresco has 25 Global Safety Ambassadors (AGSA). This group is comprised of two representatives – one management and one non-management level – from each of Ameresco’s business units. The AGSA program’s objectives include reducing the incidence of injury and illness throughout the Company, improving overall safety in the work environment, and maintaining lines of communication with all employees. The AGSAs held nine meetings in 2023.
The function of the Global Safety Ambassadors program is as follows:
- Assist with identifying and investigating potential workplace hazards
- Develop processes to eliminate or reduce identified hazards
- Measure safety performance and trends
- Assist safety management in the implementation of S&H programs
- Administration and monitoring of established S&H programs
- Encourage the active participation of all personnel in the safety process
- Establish techniques to reduce accident frequency and severity rates
- Increase employee safety awareness and general morale
- Facilitate communication & cooperation between management and personnel
- Demonstration of results to management and employees
By establishing a concentrated committee dedicated to promoting and fostering employee and Company safety, AGSA solicit input and evaluate program performance to provide recommendations to senior and executive level management for continued overall process improvements.
Safety Performance
U.S. Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics incidence rates of nonfatal occupational injuries and illnesses by industry(1) and case types, and fatal occupational injuries by industry, 2019 (most recent published BLS data)*
| Total Recordable Cases1 | Cases with Days Away from Work1 | Cases with Days of Job Transfer or Restriction1 | Total Fatal Injuries (Number) | |
| BLS Industry Data (2022) Architectural, Engineering & Related Services | 0.60 | 0.20 | 0.10 | 28 |
| Ameresco (2023) | 0.46 | 0.09 | 0.18 | 0 |
| Ameresco (2022) | 0.28 | 0 | 0.18 | 0 |
| Ameresco (2021) | 0.31 | 0.31 | 0 | 0 |
| Ameresco (2020) | 0.29 | 0.29 | 0 | 0 |
| Ameresco (2019) | 0.49 | 0.19 | 0.09 | 0 |
* The North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) is the standard used by Federal statistical agencies in classifying business establishments for the purpose of collecting, analyzing, and publishing statistical data related to the U.S. business economy. Architectural, Engineering & Related Services Industry’s NAICS code is 5413. Ameresco’s NAICS code is 54133.
(1) The incidence rates represent the number of injuries and illnesses per 100 full-time workers and were calculated as: (NEH) x 200,000, where:
- N=number of illnesses and injuries
- EH=total hours worked by all employees during the calendar year
- 200,000=base for 100 equivalent full-time workers (working 40 hours per week, 50 weeks per year)