O'Connell Electric Newsletter - 2022 E2

Since 1911

Corporate Headquarters

830 Phillips Road Victor, NY 14564 585.924.2176

Albany

2360 Maxon Road Ext. Schenectady, NY 12308 518.346.0077

Buffalo

20 Lancaster Parkway Lancaster, NY 14086 716.675.9010

Rochester

Power Group 390 Systems Road Rochester, NY 14623 585.424.3472

Construction Services 400 Systems Road Rochester, NY 14623 585.869.4630

Syracuse

Hancock Airpark 7001 Performance Drive N. Syracuse, NY 13212 315.437.1453

Construction Services

- Building Information Modeling - Prefabrication - Design Build

Service and Maintenance

Security Integration

Victor/Rochester brian.rittenhouse@oconnellelectric.com Buffalo chris.wall@oconnellelectric.com Syracuse douglas.marolf@oconnellelectric.com Albany tom.sauer@oconnellelectric.com

Victor/Rochester andrew.dohse@oconnellelectric.com Syracuse david.coon@oconnellelectric.com

Victor/Albany/Buffalo/Rochester rob.unger@oconnellelectric.com Syracuse joseph.duh@oconnellelectric.com

Power Group david.emmi@oconnellelectric.com

Commercial Solar joel.clester@oconnellelectric.com

Large Wind Projects tim.ehmann@oconnellelectric.com

Tele

Fiber

Data

Albany tom.sauer@oconnellelectric.com Victor/Buffalo rob.unger@oconnellelectric.com Syracuse joseph.duh@oconnellelectric.com Technical

Services -

Victor/Rochester craig.ramsdell@oconnellelectric.com Syracuse douglas.marolf@oconnellelectric.com Natural

Temperature Control

Gas

Transportation - Airport - Bridge - Highway

Our strength as a full service electrical contractor is rooted in the diversity of our services

This newsletter is a publication of O’Connell Electric Company, Inc. For comments, inquiries, or to be added to our mailing list, email john.miller@oconnellelectric.com

Michael Parkes

Chief Operating Officer

As this year comes to an end, I would like to thank all our dedicated employees, valued clients, and vendor partners for making 2022 another successful year. Without you, O’Connell Electric would not be able to continue to grow and provide outstanding services to electrify our communities.

As I reflect on the past year it, is truly incredible what we have accomplished together amid challenging times. Our Vegetation Management and Telecomm groups blossomed from entrepreneurial vision this year to well established business segments primed for future growth and success. While our Construction Services Team continues to expand and find new ways to help our projects operate more efficiently through virtual design and prefabrication. An entrepreneurial spirit has been the catalyst behind nearly all our unique service offerings and exists in so many of our past and present employees.

I am so proud to work with a group of people that are always looking to push our company forward with innovation and integrity.

This year also marked the first year of a significant company transition that saw my father, Tom Parkes, assume the position of CEO, while I took over Tom’s former position of COO. We strengthened our existing leadership team by tapping Dave Emmi and Tim Ehmann to take the Power Group to the next level as Vice Presidents and added Tim Boldt to the O’Connell executive team who has brought tremendous business and legal insight to the company.

Our entire leadership team has been working hard to refine O’Connell in a way that will allow for us to be successful for the next generation and we are very excited to start sharing our vision for O’Connell with you in the New Year.

As we venture into the year ahead, I can’t thank our people enough for all that they do to make O’Connell Electric what it is. Whether you work in the field or office, administration or operations, every person in this company has a valuable role to play and we need to continue to support one another to become the best company that we can be.

On behalf of the entire Parkes Family and the O’Connell Leadership Team I would like to wish you all a safe and happy holiday season.

Cheers, Michael Parkes, COO

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MESSAGE FROM THE FIELD SAFETY COMMITTEE

The holidays are a time for warm wishes and for expressing gratitude for a great year gone by. We are given a rare opportunity to reach out to all of those that have had an impact on our lives professionally and personally.

I would like to start with the members of our field, power, office, and corporate safety committees. Thank you all for your dedication and vital contributions to our safety culture. Your use of energy and creativity to strategically boost engagement and productivity of your peers is worthy of recognition.

The hard work of our safety team should be recognized. Your valuable feedback and personal investment in employee safety is commendable. Your passion for making safety the top priority every day does not go unnoticed and is an integral piece of our valued leadership.

Our customers are our heart and soul. Choosing to partner with us is a testament to your understanding of our hard work and the value we place on safety. Your support of our safe work practices makes you all a vital part of our safety culture. We appreciate your investment as that recognition is one of the most powerful metrics in gauging the success of our efforts when it comes to safety.

The long hours and commitment made by all my colleagues takes an enormous amount of support from families and friends at home. This sacrifice does not go unnoticed and is what drives us to make the right decisions, empowers us to work safe and come home every day! Thank you for being there for us, we are all in this together and it takes all of us to be successful.

To all the employees at OCE, inside and out, top to bottom, the entire team. Your collective enthusiasm topped with each of your individual strengths are instrumental in shepherding the team to achieve the safest most positive workplace out there. No matter the task, we have the expertise. I have witnessed and experienced leadership, mentorship, teaching, learning, and vision. I could not be more proud to be a part of such an inspirational crew, and from the bottom of my heart I would like to wish everyone a safe and happy holiday season, a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Fraternally, Jeff Harter Field Safety Committee Chairman

NEW IN 2022: MEDCOR IMMEDIATE CARE PROCESS

O’Connell is excited to announce that starting in December, we will be fully implementing and utilizing a new injury triage and reporting program with Medcor, a medical service provider specializing in helping injured workers on the job. The O’Connell / Medcor partnership was developed after much research and conversation about how the company can provide immediate care with the least interruption to individual’s work days.

With this new service, injured employees and their supervisors will have immediate access to a registered nurse who will discuss the appropriate level of care for injured employees.

Benefits of Medcor:

• Immediate attention from a registered nurse and guidance to the appropriate level of care.

• Triaging severity of injuries using patented medical algorithms.

• Supervisors and employees do not need to be responsible for identifying the severity of injuries and means of treatment.

• If employee is self treating they can get the right treatment information immediately.

• If treatment is recommended, Medcor will refer the employee to the closest Urgent Care facility.

• Access to call someone 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

OCE SAFETY MOMENT

FROM DAN OBERLIES - DIRECTOR OF SAFETY & RISK MANAGEMENT

As we close out the safety year, we have plenty of outstanding accomplishments to be proud of. We have experienced tremendous growth in our geographic footprint, varieties of service to our customers, number of employees, labor hours worked, and the size of our fleet. We also had our struggles, but we worked our way through those challenges. In the end, we learned and grew in our safety culture, and we are stronger because of it.

When we needed them most, our three Field and Office Safety Committees came together to identify more clearly what was challenging us, and what we could do about it. Out of those meetings came specific Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), best practices, alternative tools, and more focused training and safety education. We relied on each other to find solutions. Coming together as a team made us stronger. We stayed focused throughout the year on the projects that we had on our annual agenda. We methodically made our way through those projects with the leadership of our Safety Team and collaboration of our stakeholders. The initiatives we launched have proven to be beneficial and helped to produce positive results.

Mixed into the year are some outstanding accomplishments:

• Increased our Human Performance Improvement education and execution.

• Continued to develop standard operating procedures that can be used to ensure safe and efficient task execution.

• Developed an entirely updated New Hire Safety Orientation Program.

• Kicked off a telephonic triage program to offer fast, appropriate care for injured employees.

• Internally developed hands-on training for our Vegetation Management Group.

• Conducted hands-on training for our Telecommunications Group.

• Conducted Electrical Hazard Awareness and High Voltage Awareness Training.

• Redesigned our safety audit form and process, including data trending and reporting.

• Added two new members to our team of Safety Specialists.

• Launched our Annual Safety Day initiative, including administrative and operational leadership participation.

Thank you to all our employees for their hard work and commitment to working safely and collaboratively every day. We are each other’s keeper, and one of the most powerful safety tools we have is looking out for each other and caring for our colleagues.

Please enjoy the holidays responsibly and safely.

SAFETY SHOUTOUTS

“Recently, John Currier, JW, LU 43 reached out to the Safety Team with a question. At the Milton Cat project he was working on, the customer wanted a 480-breaker switch opened. The switch they wanted open fed another panel. John remembered from his training that this work activity required a switching plan. John’s foreman happened to be sick, and without someone speaking up, who knows what could have happened? Thanks to John, our safety team and the Project Manager discussed the work task and a plan was created. The switching activity was completed safely. Thank you, John, for displaying a questioning attitude and avoiding a possible error trap.”

- Submitted by Todd Forman, Safety Specialist

OCE ENVIRONMENTAL, HEALTH & SAFETY INCENTIVE PROGRAM

GOINGABOVE ANDBEYOND

O’Connell’s EHS Incentive Program exists to promote workplace environmental, health, and safety through positive reinforcement of observed safe behaviors and voluntary participation in various safety/risk management programs and exercises.

Our goal is to promote open discussion about our environment, health, and safety at all levels of our employees. The intention is to create positive workplace behaviors and environmental protections, thus enabling O’Connell to switch our emphasis from the monitoring of lagging indicators (accidents, incidents, environmental issues, equipment and vehicle damage) to an emphasis on leading indicators utilizing our Crew Based Safety Observations and Near Miss/Good Catch Programs.

An important part of our program is recognizing employees when they demonstrate our core values, embody our safety culture, and who step up to help when it’s needed most. In recent months, several individuals did just that.

PROJECT TEAM SAVES FELLOW EMPLOYEE

In August, Ryan McGovern, Cole Huston and Wayne Rich responded swiftly to a medical emergency at a project site in Buffalo when a fellow coworker collapsed unconscious. The crew members provided immediate first aid clearing the employee’s breathing passage and helped steady the employee as he was revived. The crew quickly transported the employee to a medical facility where he was treated. Without the teams quick reaction, the employee may have suffered a much more significant event.

After the fire was out, he did not see anyone in the vehicle but noticed someone off to the passenger side of the car in the grass. The driver managed to crawl out of the burning vehicle when he saw the flames. Tom helped to stabilize him until emergency responders arrived. Tom mentioned the driver seemed to have only minor injuries, which he thought was amazing considering how fast he was traveling when he hit the tree.

This situation was extremely stressful, but Tom remained calm and relied on his prior training. He acted quickly and made immediate decisions that potentially helped save the life of an injured motorist.

Thank you, Tom, for your actions and for being a leader in safety for O’Connell Electric.

EMPLOYEE SAVES MAN IN AUTO ACCIDENT

On the morning of October 6, Estimator and Training Instructor, Tom Murphy, was on his way to work when two vehicles sped by him at a high rate of speed in the oncoming traffic lane. The first automobile deliberately used heavy braking as it rounded the curve, sending the second off the road. Tom witnessed the car hit a tree with no brake lights at a high rate of speed. The other car that chose to aggressively brake stopped, backed up to the scene, and then drove away.

Tom pulled over to call 911 when he noticed the car had caught fire. Tom was carrying an O’Connell emergency response kit in his vehicle and was able to use the fire extinguisher to put out the fire.

CPR TRAINING SAVES A LIFE

On Friday, July 1, Todd Axton, a site safety representative for Mirason Safety working on an OCE project site, was at the camp of OCE employee, Marc Albright. While relaxing Todd was eating a piece of fruit when the it became lodged in his throat. Todd stood up, was unable to breathe, and passed out striking his head on the floor of the deck. Marc realized what was happening and reverted to his First Aid/CPR training he received from O’Connell, and took immediate action. Marc yelled to his girlfriend to call 911 while he checked for a pulse and began to perform chest compressions. Todd began to gasp and had labored respirations. Marc rolled him on his side allowing him to vomit and not aspirate what was coming up. The ambulance arrived and brought Todd to the hospital where he was admitted for observation. After some time off to recover, Todd returned to work with a new lease on life thanks to Marc.

Left to right: Wayne Rich, Cole Huston, and Ryan McGovern reacted calmly and quickly to aid an injured coworker on the job.

Tom Murphy participated in fire extinguisher training, which helped him stay calm and act swiftly during an emergency situation.

Marc Albright’s composure under pressure helped save a coworker and friend.

HURRICANE IAN RESPONSE

Our Power Group and Vegetation Management crews worked incredibly hard this September/October mobilizing to various regions of Florida in response to Hurricane Ian, the category 4 hurricane that struck Florida’s Gulf Coast. Due to O’Connell’s position and reputation in the national utility services market, Florida Power & Light called upon us for support.

O’Connell mobilized approximately 160 linemen, 110 tree trimmers and a wide array of support staff including mechanics, warehouse, safety and assistant project managers. Our efforts concentrated on areas of Orlando, Tampa, and Fort Myers, and were heavily focused on restoring power to Sanibel Island, an area that was totally devastated by the hurricane.

NEXUS CENTER

DIVISIONS

The Nexus Center Ice Arena is a 169,440-square-foot facility in Utica, NY featuring three multipurpose 200 x 85-foot playing surfaces that can be utilized with ice or turf. The Center also includes team rooms, a coffee shop, a restaurant/bar, and merchandise store.

O’Connell provided 13.2KV of electrical service into the facility, installation of the substation gear, and all 600V distribution. Our scope included all branch electrical power, lighting, sound systems, security systems, and fire alarms. The Syracuse Communications team also provided the network system, tele/ data cabling, and fiber backbone installation.

Timing was key in this project as the schedule was extremely expedited to accommodate upcoming events. The team needed to come up with creative solutions to meet a deadline in under seven months. Senior Project Manager, Jeff Pratt, and General Foremen Andy Schaffner and John Snay, decided to work with Construction Services to support the labor demands and streamline the installations on-site. Construction Services designed detailed drawings and BIM models for the electrical rooms and prefabricated nineteen multi-panel racks and seven transformer/panel racks. Upon delivery of the equipment, racks and transformers were ready for installation.

Jeff Pratt said, “The project carried such an aggressive pace that the change in scenery throughout the facility was absolutely amazing from one week to the next. The crews performed at a level that was certainly commendable.”

Even through material delays and coordinating with eight different vendors, the OCE team was able to meet the deadline and the facility opened to its first tournament the weekend of November 11th.

Many individuals and teams are to be thanked for the success of this project, including Dale Peters, Designed Electrical Services Consultant, for his insight on the 13.2KV system, Joe Duh, Communications Project Manager, and his team for their coordination with the low voltage systems, the Technical Services Group for their efforts on this fast pace project, and Construction Services for detailed designs and assemblies, as well as everyone on the construction crew.

The project carried such an aggressive pace that the change in scenery throughout the facility was absolutely amazing from one week to the next. The crews performed at a level that was certainly commendable.

Jeff Pratt, Senior Project Manager

Construction Services was contacted to coordinate the layout of several electrical rooms at the Nexus Center. In the photos above, a strategic layout was designed to house several transformers in a compact room. The transformer racks were designed and built in the prefabrication shop, after which the transformers were pre-wired and tested. Upon delivery, all of the equipment, racks, and transformers were ready for installation.

As the Holiday Season is upon us, there is much to be thankful for. We are grateful for our working relationships and friendships with each and every employee and business partner who has continued to shape our company.

Our holiday wishes to you, your families, and your business for a happier, healthier, more peaceful, and prosperous New Year in 2023!

We look forward to working with you in the years to come.

All of us at O’Connell strongly feel that we have been very blessed and are fortunate for the relationships we have with our vendors, customers, and communities we live and work in.

This holiday season we are sharing this good fortune in your honor by making charitable donations to local organizations in the communities where each of our offices are located.

Asbury First Community Outreach Center

The Asbury First United Methodist Church’s mission is to bring life to the Rochester community. They are currently growing their Community Outreach Center to reach directly out to those in need. The Center provides hot meals, medical care, personal hygiene, hair care, laundry assistance, help with job searches, computer access, and a storehouse full of clothes and home goods.

C.U.R.E. Childhood Cancer Association

C.U.R.E. Childhood Cancer Association exists to provide emotional, educational, social, and financial assistance to Rochester-area families whose children have cancer or a blood disorder. Underlying every facet of their mission is one simple goal: to improve the lives of pediatric cancer patients and their loved ones.

Lifespan

Lifespan helps older adults and caregivers take on the challenges and opportunities of longer life. As a regional nonprofit, Lifespan is a trusted source of unbiased information, guidance and more than 30 services and advocacy for older adults and caregivers. They also provide training and education for allied professionals and the community. Annually they assist thousands of older adults and caregivers.

The Salvation Army

Dedicated to doing the most good in our communities, the Salvation Army is an organization that seeks to meet human needs without discrimination. In the greater Rochester Area, this includes emergency and family services, hunger relief, youth empowerment, housing support, combating addiction, combating human trafficking, emergency disaster services and sharing God’s Love.

Mental Health Advocates of WNY

For 60 years, Mental Health Advocates of WNY has been deeply committed to providing essential non-clinical services that address the needs of individuals, families and communities living with mental illness. Through awareness, education, prevention, early intervention programs and supportive services, the organization advocates for and actively promotes mental health and wellness for adults, families and children in homes, schools and workplaces across Western New York.

WNY Heroes, Inc.

The mission of WNY Heroes is to provide veterans, members of the armed services, and the widows and children of deceased veterans with access to essential services, financial assistance and resources that support their lives and sustain their dignity.

Wings Flights of Hope, Inc.

Wings Flights of Hope helps people in need of free air transportation for medical and humanitarian purposes. Basically helping anyone, anytime, anyplace. The organization does not let transportation to stand in the way of a patient receiving the best possible treatment available. With this purpose in mind, volunteer pilots enjoy giving the gift of hope to so many passengers. Wings Flights of Hope is extremely instrumental for transplant patients because of the short window of opportunity to receive organ transplants.

Hospice of Central New York

Hospice of CNY is a dedicated network of doctors, nurses, social workers, grief counselors, chaplains and family caregivers working together to provide comprehensive comfort care to patients and families facing end-of-life and life-limiting illness.

Food Bank of Central New York

Food Bank of Central New York serves as the main food distribution hub for hundreds of partner agencies that comprise the emergency food network in an 11-county service region across central and northern New York. The food bank provides more than 22.5 million pounds of food – the equivalent of 18.7 million meals – to hungry families, children, and elderly every year.

McMahon Ryan Child Advocacy Center

The McMahon Ryan Center is dedicated to ending child abuse in their community through prevention, intervention, and education by facilitating a coordinated multidisciplinary team approach, meeting the needs of children and families. Their streamlined approach partners law enforcement, children and family services, social workers, medical professionals, victim advocates, prosecutors, therapists and volunteers under one roof – and preserves the best evidence for investigators in cases of child abuse or human trafficking.

City Mission of Schenectady

The purpose of City Mission of Schenectady is to establish and maintain programs and ministries that address the physical, social, and spiritual needs of the poor as well as those who are underresourced.

Habitat for Humanity of Schenectady County, Inc.

Schenectady Habitat is dedicated to eliminating substandard housing locally and worldwide through constructing, rehabilitating and preserving homes by advocating for fair and just housing policies and by providing training and access to resources to help families improve their shelter conditions. The organization was founded on the conviction that every man, woman and child should have a simple, durable place to live in dignity and safety.

Things of My Very Own, Inc.

Things of My Very Own is a non-profit organization that provides crisis intervention services to children who are impacted by extensive abuse and/or neglect or at-risk of a Child Protective Services intervention. Their goal is to keep children together with non-abusive family members and out of the foster care system whenever possible. They recognize the need for children to have basic necessities and things of their very own as soon as possible, so they can begin their healing process.

MOHAWK VALLEY HEALTH SYSTEMS

The new Mohawk Valley Health Systems campus in Downtown Utica is a 702,000-square-foot, ten story hospital with over 370 beds. It has been named Wynn Hospital in recognition of a $50 million donation from the Wynn Family Foundation. O’Connell provided the installation of all distribution, feeders, branch power, lighting and lighting controls throughout the facility. With a hospital project, all systems needed to be critical power to ensure the hospital could maintain uninterrupted electrical service year round, meaning conduit was required throughout the building.

The project experienced labor shortages and Local 43 provided labor from San Francisco, Chicago, Louisiana, Florida, Vermont, New Hampshire and all across New York. Construction Services was also utilized to prefabricate the wall rough in assemblies and conduit rack systems to offset the labor burdens. The conduit racks were then installed at ground level at the site and raised into place, which is a safer and more efficient process. The Construction Services team, including Matt Hickman, Tom Zielke, and Jon Leubner, worked with the project team to design the project, prefabricate the necessary materials, and work with the field crews to fine tune the assemblies on-site. Project Manager, Sam Obermayer, was able to coordinate all of the teams and vendors to provide a seamless process from procurement to installation of the final devices. The project is set to be completed in September 2023.

DIVISIONS

GENERAL FOREMAN

Patrick Arnold, LU 236

FOREMEN

Dan Snyder, LU 43

Randy West, LU 43

Jason Jones, LU 43

Joe Allen, LU 43

Tim Schmidt, LU 43

BIM drawing of prefabricated conduit racks. Completed conduit rack systems.

Prefabricated

BUFFALO STATE BUILDING 50

DIVISION Buffalo Construction PROJECT MANAGER Steve LaJoie GENERAL FOREMAN Bill White, LU 41

On the campus of Buffalo State College, Building 50 (also known as Ruslander Building) was built around 1956 and was acquired by Buffalo State in 2003. It was constructed as a manufacturing facility but has been used by the campus as a storage facility with 92,050-square-feet of space. A building conditions assessment survey found this building to be the most deteriorated of all buildings on campus. The school decided to move forward with a two phase renovation project. The project’s goals are to provide appropriately designed space to accommodate the needs of new departments/ functions that will occupy the building: university police department (UPD), custodial services, grounds maintenance shop, general office, and storage. Scope of work also includes renovations to the warehouse and dock space to improve its utilization, functionality, flexibility and safety.

O’Connell was hired for the first phase of the project to upgrade the aging electrical infrastructure including the new service, lighting and fire alarm systems. Distribution, feeder, and branch conduit was added and most of the branch work was installed through electrical metal tubing in the ceiling.

Project Manager, Steve LaJoie, said, “Bill White deserves a lot of credit for working with the college to keep everything moving forward and Brian Chamberlain has done a great job to make sure the crews stay safe and have all the needed safety gear.”

NEW SCOTLAND SUBSTATION

DIVISIONS

FOREMEN

Site Superintendent, John Fox, LU 43

Inside Foreman, John Harrison, LU 236

Inside Foreman, Matt Cypressi, LU 86

PROJECT MANAGERS

Chris Rittenhouse, Power Group Kassidy Merrell & Scott Precourt, Technical Services Group

Line Foreman, Bob Hazen, LU 1249

Line Foreman, Jason Lee, LU 1249

Technical Services Foreman, Jered Foote, LU 43

Technical Services Lead Engineer, Zach Peters

As part of the Central East Energy Connect Transmission Project, O’Connell was hired to upgrade the New Scotland Substation outside of Albany, NY. The government funded project is aimed at upgrading the transmission lines between Oneida County and Albany County to support clean energy across the state.

O’Connell was tasked with rebuilding the entire 345KV existing substation bus. The team needed to work within very short outage times due to the size of the substation. All outage times were predetermined before O’Connell was even awarded the project and could not be altered. During these outages, our crews demolished all existing foundations, bus, and steel then installed everything new. The relay panel control wiring was replaced for the new bus protection scheme. All of the work was also tested and commissioned.

With exceptional planning of the Project Managers, Foremen and Supervisors, all the work has been completed during these time frames.

Project Manager, Chris Rittenhouse, said, “I think the amount of work that was done in these short periods of time is a huge compliment to the crews on-site.”

Chris also recognized Technical Services Lead Engineer, Zach Peters, for his leadership in helping make critical decisions and Site Superintendent, John Fox, for his commitment and leadership overseeing this complicated project.

The project is scheduled to be completed in April 2023.

Despite having an extremely busy year for the company, this fall and winter, each of our service groups and divisions held annual foremen and team summits to discuss important topics and gather feedback. The company has always emphasized the importance of these annual gatherings, and this was the first time since COVID-19, we were able to successfully reimplement our summits.

Every office had key messages to deliver including new standardization practices, information from our field and corporate safety committees, and an update on the status of the company as a whole from Chief Operating Officer, Michael Parkes.

Although O’Connell has a strong culture of safety and craftsmanship, not all service divisions operate the same, so it made sense that not all groups/divisions covered exactly the same topics. The key messaging, however, was unmistakable. Everyone was eager to share their feedback and experience to continue making O’Connell Electric one of the best contractors to work for in our industry. We covered new tools and techniques, standard operating procedures, fleet operations, quality control, safety, construction services and fabrication, procurement, new/updated operational procedures, and much more.

From Prefab to the Field

Updates from our Construction Services Team

WALL-ROUGH STANDARIZATION

The Construction Services Group was formed due to the nationwide use of off site prefabrication in the electrical industry. Prefabrication has become widespread because of its ability to decrease project costs and on-site manpower needs. The number one objective for companies using prefabrication is to standardize typical assemblies. One of the most common assemblies prefabricated by any company is the wall rough assembly. Our Construction Services Team has committed a lot of time and effort to develop a product and a procedure that we think is most cost effective for our use today.

Benefits of the wall rough standardization:

• Increased field efficiencies. Not only will assemblies be assembled in the prefab shop instead of on-site, crew members will enjoy a simplified procedure, which will further decrease installation times.

• No wasted materials. Anything not used at one site can be re-purposed at another.

• All products are loaded into our cost estimating software. Standardizing the materials are negotiated at a preferred cost to OCE.

• Continuously managed inventory within the Fabrication Shop will decrease delays in orders and shipping prefabricated assemblies to job sites.

How to work with Construction Services:

Process 1: Working with the Design

Team

1. PM or foreman contacts the design team through a ticketing system or email.

2. A kick-off meeting takes place with the design team where the PM and/or foreman explain the needs of their project. All parties discuss possible solutions.

3. The Design Team will upload the base drawings into their design software and place elements that correspond to the required materials.

4. Drawings are sent to the prefab floor where each element is assembled and kitted for delivery.

5. Kits are sent out containing all of the parts and drawings for each room.

Process 2: Using Order Forms

1. Locate the wall rough order form on the OCE Intranet and download to your computer.

2. Choose the amount of materials needed for your job and submit.

3. You’ll receive an email noting that Construction Services has your job ticket.

4. Construction Services will reach out with the appropriate next steps. For more information

To have tasks completed and labor utilized off site lowers our risk and the amount of personnel we have to supervise and schedule on site. It’s a huge benefit on both sides.

Jeff Pratt, Senior Project Manager

on these new procedures and the benefits of working with Construction Services scan the QR code to view our video:

Employee News

New Employees and Position Changes

Kelly Aiezza Electrical Designer, Technical Services Group

Jake Daniels Driver/Warehouse Assistant, Syracuse

Tiffany Follett Accounts Payable Specialist, Victor

Todd Forman Safety Specialist, Syracuse

Gregory Gentile Field Safety Coordinator, Power Group

Kelly Geremski Service Coordinator, Syracuse

James Gould Finance Intern, Victor

Mileen Gunther Senior Accountant, Victor

Susan Levins Billing Specialist, Victor

Joshua Means Estimator, Victor

Leah Mundorff Payroll/HR Specialist, Victor

Jamel Osmen Administrator, Construction Services

Mike O’Connell Senior Accountant, Victor

Ryan Phelan Tool Room Coordinator, Victor

Kaitlin Price Payroll/Billing Coordinator, Power Group

Toney Proctor Electrical Designer, Technical Services Group

Adria Sharp Buyer, Victor

Casey Sumner Assistant Project Manager, Albany

Jeffrey Tonzi Junior Project Manager, Power Group

For all of your support and time dedicated to our O'Connell Family,

RECENT RETIREMENTS:

Donald Moscaret, Electrical Engineer

Recent Additions to our O’Connell Family

David

Violet Aliza Grace

Stacey Foster, Assistant Fleet and Rental Coordinator, Victor welcomed her first grandchild on November 9th!

Charlotte Patricia Emmi

Emmi, Vice PresidentPower Group and his wife Molly welcomed their fifth child on August 3rd!

Congratulations Recent Awards and Achievements

ELECTRI WENDT AWARD

Michael Parkes, COO was awarded this year’s Wendt Award presented by ELECTRI International. The award is the highest honor bestowed annually, named after Albert G. Wendt, President of Cannon & Wendt Electric Company, in honor of his outstanding philosophical and financial commitments to the electrical industry.

Walter Parkes, O’Connell’s Chairman of the Board and Michael Parkes’ grandfather, was the first recipient of the Wendt Award in 1998 when it was first established.

ENR TOP YOUNG PROFESSIONALS

In October, Dave Emmi, Vice President of our Power Group, was selected as ENR New York’s Top Young Professionals. The awards program honors individuals who have built extraordinary industry portfolios in just a few short years. Since Dave was selected as a Top YP for the New York division of ENR, his package was reviewed at a national level where he was selected to receive the award for Top 20 Under 40. He competed against 600 industry professionals.

WALTER PARKES HONORED AT NECA CONVENTION

Walter

Parkes, Former CEO and Chairman of the Board, was recognized at the 2022 NECA Convention in Austin, TX for over 20 years of service on the NECA Political Leadership Council. Michael Parkes was honored to accept the award on behalf of his grandfather.

• Loose-fitting

• Hats,

•

• Take frequent breaks in heated areas, if possible.

• Drink plenty of warm, sweet beverages (sugar water, sports drinks).

• AVOID caffeine (in coffee, tea, sodas, or hot chocolate) and alcohol.