Christmas came early for some lucky employees of ValleyCrest Landscape Companies. The landscaping firm presented five of its safest workers with brand new Ford Ranger trucks last month in recognition of their superior safety in the workplace. This year’s winners were Manuel Gonzalez, Alejandro Lerma Zea, Agustin Lara Marcos, Jose Luis Yepes and Ricky Henderson. “Workplace safety is a top priority, since ValleyCrest’s workforce is deployed outdoors on thousands of commercial customer job sites every day across the country,” said Richard A. Sperber, president and CEO of ValleyCrest. The Calabasas-based landscaping firm operates in 20 states across the United States and covers a broad range of services including tree-growing, design, maintenance and moving. For the past nine years, the company has awarded new trucks to full-time employees who fulfill a year of service with no accidents and meet the company’s safety standards. The giveaway, part of ValleyCrest’s annual Safety Awareness day and incentive program, included a drawing of five winners from a pool of over 4,000 eligible employees. Mike Dingman, senior vice president and overseer of the company’s safety program, said although the program has many components and incentives, the giveaway is the climax of the year and has helped in making workplace safety a top priority. “(Safety) is now part of our culture,” Dingman said. Since the company’s implementation of the truck giveaway, there has been a 60 percent decrease in overall claims. Despite the challenging economic times, Dingman said the company has continued to include the giveaway in their safety incentive program because it “reflects the extreme priority and commitment the company places on safety.” “At ValleyCrest, safety is not lip service, it is a very important part of everyone’s work habits,” Dingman said. —Angela Melero
Landscape Company Rewards Safe Drivers
