What is the ABC STEP Platinum Award and what does it mean for your job site?

When Alpine Painting & Sandblasting Contractors received the ABC STEP Platinum Award in 2025, it was not our first safety recognition — but it was our highest. The ABC STEP Platinum designation is the top tier of the Associated Builders and Contractors' Safety Training and Evaluation Process, and earning it requires documented safety performance that places a contractor among the top performers in the construction industry by incident rate and safety program quality. For clients evaluating contractors, understanding what STEP Platinum means in practice is important — because your contractor's safety record affects your project, your facility, and your organization's liability profile in ways that go well beyond the contractor's own workers.

What is the ABC STEP program?

The Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) is the national trade association for merit shop construction contractors, representing over 23,000 members in the United States. The ABC STEP (Safety Training and Evaluation Process) program is a safety benchmarking and recognition program that evaluates contractor safety performance across eight key leading and lagging indicators: management commitment and leadership, management accountability, safety training, safety communication, hazard prevention, incident investigations, safety planning, and overall safety culture.

STEP uses a points-based scoring system that weighs both the quality of documented safety programs (leading indicators) and actual incident rate performance (lagging indicators). Contractors are scored against industry benchmarks and recognized at Diamond, Platinum, Gold, Silver, Bronze, and Participant levels based on their total scores. Platinum is the second-highest level, requiring both exceptional program documentation and an incident rate substantially below industry averages.

What Platinum-level performance requires

Earning Platinum designation is not a matter of filing paperwork. It requires a demonstrated safety culture that produces measurable results. Platinum contractors must maintain Total Recordable Incident Rates (TRIR) and Days Away, Restricted, or Transferred (DART) rates that are consistently below industry benchmarks — typically 50% or more below the Bureau of Labor Statistics average for the painting and coating trade. They must document formal safety training programs, regular safety inspections and hazard analyses, incident investigation procedures, and management accountability systems that demonstrate genuine organizational commitment to safety rather than compliance theater.

Why your contractor's safety record matters to you

The safety record of the painting contractor you hire affects your project and your organization in several direct ways. On active construction and industrial job sites, a contractor with a poor safety record increases the probability of incidents that delay your project, damage your facility, and expose your organization to OSHA multi-employer citation liability. Many corporate contractor prequalification programs — including those used by major pharmaceutical, chemical, and manufacturing companies — use safety record as a primary selection criterion, and a high-incident contractor can disqualify your project from proceeding on your own timeline.

Insurance and risk management considerations reinforce the case. Contractors with poor safety records carry higher workers' compensation costs, which are reflected in their overhead structure and their pricing. More importantly, incidents on your site generate liability exposure for your organization even when the worker is employed by the contractor — particularly in cases where the facility owner's management of site conditions contributed to the incident.

Alpine Painting's safety recognition history

Alpine's 2025 ABC STEP Platinum Award is one of several safety recognitions the company has earned over its 50-year history. Previous honors include multiple NJ Governor's Excellence in Safety Awards and NJSA Excellence in Safety Awards. The company employs staff with Certified Safety Professional (CSP) and Associate Safety Professional (ASP) credentials and maintains a documented safety program that goes well beyond regulatory compliance. When you hire Alpine, the safety record you are relying on has been independently evaluated and recognized at the highest levels of the industry.

Ready to discuss your project?

Alpine Painting & Sandblasting Contractors has served commercial and industrial clients throughout New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, and Pennsylvania for over 50 years. Our SSPC QP1 and QP2-certified teams, AMPP Senior Certified Coating Inspectors, and award-winning safety program are ready to work for your facility.

Contact Besi Janova or David Quiroga, our Commercial Project Estimators, to request a no-obligation estimate. Call (866) 596-0349 or visit alpinepainting.com.