Antenucci wins Joan Kovach Safety Leadership Award

May 14, 2015 at 12:00a.m.

YOUNGSTOWN

Leaders at Antenucci Inc. have had the same goal since Day One: Make sure employees make it home safely.

The Warren mechanical contracting company’s safety philosophy and practice led it to win the Joan Kovach Safety Leadership Award presented Wednesday by the Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber’s Mahoning Valley Safety Council and City Machine Technologies.

“This award is not our company’s award,” said Betsy Antenucci Kuhn, vice president of the company. “It goes to every person who takes on a responsibility every day.”

The company was selected out of hundreds of companies in Mahoning and Trumbull counties. Members on the board of the Chamber’s Safety Council brought the list down to three: Antenucci Inc., Prout Boiler of Youngstown and Berk Enterprises of Warren. After a review of the businesses, a final winner was selected.

“[Antenucci’s] presentation was so exemplary that they just blew everyone out of the water,” said Karen Stacey, executive director of leadership and safety programs for the chamber.

The award is named in honor of Joan Kovach, who started, owned and operated City Machine Technologies with her husband, Michael J. Kovach, in 1985, and who died in July 2006 in a hiking accident.

In honor of her mother and on behalf of City Machine Technologies, Claudia Kovach tearfully announced the winner of the safety award.

The emotions continued when Antenucci Kuhn accepted the award for the company her father, Thomas, started in 1948 after he returned home from World War II. Every week there is a meeting with the 25 to 40 employees at Antenucci to discuss safety concerns.

An integral part of maintaining safety is for the employees to embrace it, Stephen Kuhn said.

“That comes from just letting them know the company really is concerned about their safety,” Stephen said.

Antenucci also received the 100 percent Award from the Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation, which means the company had zero injuries or illnesses resulting in a day or more away from work in the previous calendar year. A total of 154 OWC awards were given to local companies at Wednesday’s safety awards event.

Out of the 154 awarded, only 24 received the Special Award.