Denver is flourishing. Its population and employment growth are among the strongest in the nation, with the population almost tripling since 2000, according to the Denver Business Journal and the Downtown Denver Partnership. To accommodate the population and business growth, nearly $2.5 billion is currently planned or under construction in Metro Denver.

Steady Construction for the Foreseeable Future

Collecting accolades from Forbes as the best place for business and careers, and with U.S. News and World Report declaring Denver as the best place to live in the country, it’s easy to see why companies are flocking to Colorado. The city’s rapid growth means its infrastructure must quickly expand as well. New buildings have to be built and older buildings have to be renovated to keep up with the office and living space demand. In turn, construction project schedules are extremely tight with little room for error.

The structural support for these new and renovated buildings must be sturdy and stable as they are being constructed in the densely populated downtown area with heavy vehicle and pedestrian traffic. Developers and owners rely on contractors to hire experienced project teams to fabricate and install high-quality products to construct these buildings on a fast paced schedule.

Structural Steel is the Material of Choice for Commercial Construction Projects

The American Institute of Steel Construction says structural steel is the trusted material of choice for many reasons:

1. Project Schedule: Prefabrication in a fabrication shop increases productivity allowing for rapid erection on-site and a decrease in wasted materials.
2. Construction Budget: Steel costs 5 – 7{daeb8d662f58e4975bc93960761d671bdf0aa2ad049ea8a375d2717d280ef80b} less than concrete framing. Today, a single ton of steel requires less than one single man-hour to produce.
3. Aesthetics: Steel is functional and unique, with natural beauty, allowing for creative designs. Exposed steel emphasizes strength and transparency.
4. Design: Building Information Modeling (BIM) allows full integration between analysis, design, detailing and fabrication. BIM applications like Trimble are taking steel design to a new level.
5. Sustainability: Structural steel is the most recycled material on the planet and can be reused without additional processing.
6. Modifiable and Efficient: Steel can easily be modified or strengthened depending on requirements. It also optimizes building space efficiency through the use of columns and beams that allow for longer spans of open space.
7. Reliable and Predictable: Structural steel is fabricated under controlled conditions using quality control processes. Its strength is verified at the point of production, not after the material is installed.

Industry Knowledge and Proper Training Create a Reliable Project Team

Safe erection of structural steel requires a knowledgeable team. Ensuring workers are qualified, suitably trained and have sufficient experience to perform work safely must be established and verified prior to starting work. The steel team should be in constant communication with the general contractor and other trades to plan site access, equipment needs and laydown requirements. In addition, developing site-specific work instructions and safety procedures to identify potential risks is key.

RK Steel is currently working on several projects in downtown Denver including Bock A, 17^th and Wewatta, 1709 Chestnut, 14^th and Lawrence, Denver Club Renovation, Helen Bonfils Theatre Renovation, Denver Center for the Performing Arts Galleria Rails, Confluence Park Tower, 1201 Auraria and the Residence on Cherokee. RK Steel is a single source for fabricating and installing any type of structural steel or miscellaneous metals such as stairs, rails, platforms and canopies.  Do you have a project that needs a trusted, premier steel contractor to get the job done? Contact our team for a free project consultation today at rksteelestimating@rkindustries.com.

By: RK Mechanical

The healthcare field is vast and frequently progressing. As death rates decrease and life expectancy increases, people are living longer creating a demand for new and updated healthcare facilities. Thankfully, prefabrication has allowed healthcare facilities of all sizes to be built in record time.

According to The 2015 SmartMarket Report on Prefabrication and Modularization published by McGraw-Hill Construction, contractors believe that prefabrication can decrease project schedules by four weeks or more. In addition, 65 percent of contractors believe that prefabrication leads to a decrease in budget and, because of that, more than 49 percent of healthcare projects now incorporate prefabrication.

Mechanical contractors are capitalizing on this approach and are experiencing great success. Prefabrication has proved to increase efficiency through less wasted material and improve the speed of construction. Repetitive processes lead to consistency and fewer mistakes, leading to better quality products. Prefabricated mechanical systems, specific to healthcare facilities, include bathroom components or whole bathroom pods, MEP racks, wall systems and exterior elements. As prefabrication advances, new applications include modular mechanical rooms and patient and exam rooms.

Prefabrication creates safer working environments for employees. Prefabricating mechanical systems in a controlled environment means that as little as 20 percent of work is done on-site, reducing health and safety risks. And, more than one third of McGraw-Hill survey respondents using the approach say they have seen safety improve company-wide. Weather is not an issue and ladders and platforms are rarely needed. Fabrication in a warehouse and installation onsite allows multiple construction activities to be performed in parallel. According to a recent article published by Sourceable, between 60 and 90 percent of the prefabricated portions of healthcare facilities are assembled off-site.

Prefabrication is essential for operational facilities. Construction crews are able to perform work and install systems with less congestion and disturbance to facility employees and patients. Cutting down the construction schedule is also a key benefit because the sooner construction is finished the sooner they can expand the amount of care that they are able to give.

RK Mechanical has extensive experience working in the healthcare industry prefabricating and installing mechanical systems for projects including:

• Audie Murphy VA Memorial Hospital, San Antonia, TX
• St. Anthony Hospital, Denver, Colorado
• Fort Carson Soldier Family Care Center, Colorado Springs, CO
• Vail Valley Medical Center (VVMC), Vail, CO
• Swedish Medical Center, Englewood, CO
• Northern Colorado Medical Center (NCMC), Greenly, CO
• U.S. Air Force Academy Hospital, Colorado Springs, CO
• Denver Health, Denver, CO
• Castle Rock Adventist Hospital, Castle Rock, CO

Looking to build or renovate a healthcare facility?  RK Mechanical would be happy to discuss our services with you. Contact RK Mechanical at communications@rkindustries.com for more information.

By: RK Energy

The recent decline in the oil and gas industry has many companies experiencing hardship. Those that have survived are working to reduce costs by selling equipment or letting it sit idly; others are bypassing well testing, equipment servicing, repairs and site maintenance.

While scrimping on equipment maintenance is tempting, companies should seriously consider retaining and maintaining their costly operating equipment and field sites. Used equipment can now be found at bargain-basement prices today. Selling equipment in a downturn will likely result in a large capital loss for the business. The benefits will lie only with the buyer. Oil and gas companies should consider that once the industry turns around, the cost of equipment will also rise.

By holding onto equipment and investing in preventative maintenance instead, operators can gain enormous savings on future repairs. Investing now in maintenance will reduce down time and extend the life of the equipment. It will also help identify potential site risks and reduce overall production costs.

If companies continue to market effectively, it could also be an opportunity to win some business from competitors who are downsizing. Rather than dismantling and selling equipment or slashing the maintenance budget, maintaining existing equipment can put companies in a position to gain market share when the industry picks up because they’ll be able to ramp up production more quickly.

Despite the significant slowdown, there is still plenty of oil to drill. When the industry is on the upswing, competitors who downsized will be forced to spend extra time and capital expense before getting back to work as they will have to replace their equipment and perform site maintenance. Those who sustained their equipment and sites will be able to get to work right away.

If you are looking for someone to maintain your oil field equipment and perform on-site maintenance, RK Energy would be happy to discuss our services with you. Contact RK Energy at rkenergy@rkindustries.com for more information.

By: RK Service

People from the rest of the country may be starting to take their winter ski vacations in Colorado, but area business owners and facility managers need to keep their buildings safe and operating smoothly until spring returns.

RK Service professionals weighed in on the most important winter maintenance tasks for local businesses below.

Top Three Winter Maintenance To-Do’s

Inspect the HVAC System
Ensure that HVAC systems are ready to handle the demands of cold months. Have an expert inspect and optimize your HVAC system now. If your heating system has not been inspected and serviced recently, doing so right away may prevent unnecessary outages and emergency service calls during or after a storm. It will also ensure that employees and tenants stay warm no matter how low the temperatures drop.

Eliminate Heat Loss
“Gaps around louvers, doors and windows create pockets of freezing air that make their way throughout an entire building,” says RK Service technician, Don Pierce. The loss is compounded as heat escapes from these same areas. Every part of your building should be checked for leaks and cracks. General caulking around doors and windows will help seal out the winter air. Drafty areas near windows may indicate insulation inadequacies or freeze exposure issues.

Protect Water Pipes
Freezing weather can affect vital facility systems: sprinkler systems, fire pumps, heating and air conditioning equipment, boilers, steam piping and water tanks. Freezing in any part of your system can result in flooding, causing equipment damage and electrical dangers. The best way to avoid frozen pipes is to prepare your facility as early as possible. First, heating equipment needs to be serviced and in good repair so that optimal heating levels can be maintained at all times. The cause of frozen pipes is often insufficient interior heat due to equipment failure. Second, pipes should be inspected and insulated in exposed areas.

Call RK Service today to schedule an equipment maintenance call right away. Or let one of our experienced technicians perform a complete inspection of your facility and provide their top recommendations for your business. No matter where you are in Colorado, we have a local team that can you help you.

By: RK Mission Critical

Now that 2015 is behind us, strategies are being developed by enterprises, colocation providers and web giants alike for the next great developments in IT.

Will 2016 be the year that cloud kills the data center? Will the race to the edge continue? Who is happy that the term “fog computing” never caught on? Below, author Ron Vokoun with RK Mission Critical shares his fearless predictions for the 2016 data center industry.

2016: The Year of Modular

There has been a great deal of talk about modular data centers, yet relatively low adoption. That will change in 2016 with a substantially higher rate of adoption due to new concepts on the market.

Most people relate modular data centers to shipping containers. Modular no longer has to have the negative connotations associated with constraining containers thanks to concepts like CENTERCORE. With open white space and ceiling heights similar to that of traditional construction, while maintaining the advantages of speed to market, scalability, and accelerated depreciation of modular, the market paradigm is poised to shift. Leading colocation providers such as FORTRUST are adopting modular at scale.

“The modular approach to data center design, construction and delivery to the end-user is long past due. The old paradigms of traditional raised floor data center design and/or the “build it all out and then fill it” models are simply inefficient and wasteful capital management.”

• Robert McClary, Sr. Vice President & General Manager, FORTRUST Data Centers

Retail and Wholesale Colocation Merge

The line between retail and wholesale colocation has been increasingly blurry over the past few years. The line used to be drawn at about 1 MW of capacity, but the wholesale players are now coming down as far as 250 kW and are offering more managed services than ever. Meanwhile, traditional retail players such as ViaWest are signing customers to increasingly larger deals into the multi-megawatt range while still offering the same array of managed services.

The Race to the Edge Will Continue

The rise of edge data centers is well documented with early pioneers EdgeConneX and vXchnge establishing an early advantage over the rest. With our never-ending appetite for content and decreasing attention spans, the race to the edge will continue with more players joining in. The focus to-date has been on cable and telecom connectivity, but the next frontier will be mobile where more and more people are accessing their content.

DCIM Adoption Will Continue Slow and Steady

The DCIM market has been riding the hype cycle for quite some time. But hype alone cannot sustain the over 70 companies listed on the Rhonda Ascierto’s DCIM Metro Map. With all of the attention, yet relatively low adoption, one must assume DCIM is past the “Peak of Inflated Expectations” and the “Trough of Disillusionment” and is now trending toward maturity and productivity.

The knock on DCIM is that there is too much noise in the market (i.e., too many players) to determine who is real and who isn’t. Adoption will continue slow and steady until the market shakes out and there are more visible success stories.

Renewable Energy Adoption Will Accelerate

The adoption of renewable energy in 2015, especially by the colocation market, was surprising. It shows that renewable energy has matured to the point where it is no longer a marketing gimmick, but is now a competitive advantage.

The colocation market is cutthroat competitive. So, if renewables didn’t make business sense, colocation players would be putting themselves at a disadvantage by sourcing their energy in such a way. I believe adoption of renewable energy will accelerate in 2016, if for no other reason than risk mitigation. After all, who wouldn’t want to lock in your power rate for 20 years?

TCO Loses Ground

In 2016, Total Cost of Ownership will actually lose ground in data center design consideration. It defies logic, but I have witnessed a movement back toward pure CapEx-driven decisions over considerations of energy efficiency, accelerated depreciation and other financial factors. This seems to be more prevalent with enterprises, but I have seen examples across market sectors. Kudos to those enlightened souls that understand the benefits to be gained for years to come.

Water Usage Rises in Importance

The drought in California brought the issue of water use and conservation to the forefront of our consciousness in 2015. Given that water is the most subsidized and underpriced utility in the U.S., it will become a larger factor in TCO (for those that actually use this metric), but that will not be the reason it rises in importance in data center design.

Although geographically driven, risk mitigation will be the reason water usage climbs the ladder of design considerations. Simple availability has to be a consideration in this era of droughts and other extreme weather. As with renewable energy, it simply makes business sense.

Ghetto Colo Becomes a Product Offering

Lower levels of redundancy have become a product offering. Although I cannot take credit for the catchy name, heard after hours at a 7×24 Exchange Conference a couple of years ago from Jason Scandrol, quoting the words of a wise IT sage he once worked with.

Whether it be bitcoin miners or a research cluster, there are many instances that do not require anything more than street power. Why pay for the redundancy if you don’t need it? Look for more service providers to follow suit.

Rise of the Data Center Density

Power densities were relatively flat in 2015, with some trending upward toward the end of the year in the projects we evaluated. This trend will continue in 2016 with a steady rise in density across all market sectors.

Legacy equipment is finding its way out of enterprise data centers, giving way to new equipment capable of more computing in a smaller footprint.

Production data centers in higher education are averaging 5 kW per cabinet, while a research facility we designed came in at an average of 40 kW per cabinet.

Hybrid IT Rules the Day

Many have predicted that public cloud would dominate the IT landscape. Although usage is rising sharply, it is nowhere near the IT market share that some have predicted. There are many reasons this growth hasn’t come to be, such as security concerns, migration complexity and simple FUD.

Given the massive growth of IT and data in general, there is room for everyone. Enterprises will spend more time evaluating what they can offload into the cloud, colocation—and what they want to keep in their own data center.

If you would like to discuss your data center needs, contact us at info@rkmissioncritical.com!

By: RK Energy

The number of industries tapping into the advanced methodology of custom fabricated off-site constructed products and facilities are revolutionizing the way they are being built world-wide. From horticulture to data centers, housing and healthcare, prefabrication is a hot topic. This progression proves that regardless of the industry, companies continue to battle the same monsters: producing superior products, lowering costs and increasing productivity. These universal industry challenges make modular manufacturing and construction the golden ticket in which companies are willing to invest.

WHY IS MODULAR BETTER?

Modular and skidded buildings are built to last. These facilities are constructed in controlled conditions and engineered to comply with building codes and industry standards. Off-site construction projects are easier to manage and prefabrication eliminates the risks of building a facility on-site in unpredictable conditions. This gives companies the power to build any type of facility they need.

To learn more about RK’s robust prefabrication abilities, contact RK Energy at rkenergy@rkindustries.com.

Clothes to Kids Denver, Inc. helps to provide new and quality used clothing to school-age students from low-income or in-crisis families. The RK Foundation (RKF) has gotten on board in supporting their efforts by fabricating 12 clothing collection bins through the RK sheet metal shop. The bins were placed in Denver Public Schools (DPS) in October for donated clothing. RKF has committed to expand the program further over the next four years. Bin sites include DPS Headquarters, Bill Roberts, Emily Griffith, Hamilton Middle School, Hill Middle School, Holm Elementary, McAuliffe International School, Steck Elementary, and Swigert International School.

After the items are donated, they are picked up, sorted and washed by volunteers, who then help students “shop” for clothes. Founded in 2002, Clothes to Kids seeks to fill the gap that inadequate clothing makes. Research has shown that students who come to school without proper clothing experience low self-esteem, poor social skills, and lack of concentration in class. There are roughly 55,000 students in the DPS system who are in need of better clothing.

Clothes to Kids has a store they run and a family must make an appointment to “shop” at it. Students select a week’s worth of clothing, including five shirts, four pants, one dress (optional), one coat, one pair of shoes, and five pairs of new underwear and socks. Parents are welcome to shop with or without their children. Qualifying students must live in the Denver Metro Area, they must be in preschool-12 grade (or working towards earning their GED), the family must be considered in need of assistance (the student must be receiving free or reduced lunch at school), and they must also be receiving services from a social service agency, school or counseling center.

The partnership between RKF and DPS came about through Hamilton Middle Schooler, Marko Babiak, who “envisioned a program that would create an opportunity for DPS students to help other students in their community”. While in 5^th grade, Babiak set up a bin at his school to collect clothing and shoes. The effort was a big success and he helped expand the program and approached RKF to be a sponsor. The collaboration will help to provide school clothing to thousands of students currently in need. Since 2008, Clothes to Kids Denver has provided more than 19,000 wardrobes to students.

By: RK Mechanical

After the recent OSHA VPP audit on November 14th, RK was thrilled to be recommended for the OSHA VPP Star, OSHA’s highest award for world-class safety and health! During the three day audit, conducted by two OSHA auditors and a special government employee from Raytheon, 35 different employees were interviewed and after the evaluations were complete, RK received the a recommendation for the designation that less than 0.03% of companies in the entire nation receive. That means that only 62 contracting companies in the U.S. and three in Colorado are designated with this esteemed rating!

So, what does this mean?

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) recognizes the value of co-operative efforts by employers, employees, and government agencies to reduce hazards and strengthen worker protection. Created in 1982, The Voluntary Protection Programs (VPP) recognize employers and employees who have established effective safety and health management programs. The VPP program has been particularly successful in increasing safety in many different industries, including construction, poultry processing, petrochemical plants, tree nurseries, nursing homes, federal laboratories, and even “mom and pop” operations.

The OSHA audit itself, a two-phased, on-site evaluation, is highly complex and painstakingly done. In the first phase, OSHA’s team reviews the applicant’s corporate, division or business unit policies and procedures, including a review of safety and health management programs, document review and assessment of the management commitment to safety and health, and to VPP itself.

The intense road to Star status was been an intense one that took a while. “Shortly after achieving our OSHA VPP Star Mobile Work Force accreditation for the field, we asked the shop employees if they wanted to achieve this for the shops as well. The resounding response was yes,” said JP Kennel, Operations Manager for the Xanthia facility. “We began preparation, but along the way, we found that many of the things we already did were [already in place to satisfy] the OSHA VPP Star requirements. We still had to make numerous tweaks to our processes and procedures, though, and we learned a lot about ourselves [in the process]. Stepping back and critically looking at ourselves [allowed us to see] that we were lacking in mitigating possible hazards to our employees. These were the areas we focused on, making great strides in providing a safer and healthier work environment.”

Lindsay Kalis, QSE Systems Manager and main OSHA contact for RK, was the one behind the implementation of the safety management system, and was responsible for everything from application to scheduling while the OSHA team was on-site.

Kalis elaborated on what the audit consisted of while the OSHA team was at RK. “There are two types of VPP certification – Mobile Workforce and Worksite. This audit was for the Xanthia location (the Worksite designation) and Henderson will have theirs next.” Kalis explained that the application for the Xanthia audit was originally submitted in January 2013, but it took a year and a half to get the audit done.

Typically, it takes three months for the application to go through, but in light of the government shutdown and budget restrictions, it took much longer than was originally expected. Along with Kalis, Tom Alvarez, RK’s Manager of Safety, was also instrumental in assisting the OSHA auditors find all of the information they needed.

The second phase is dedicated to reviewing one or more worksites in order to verify that the safety and health management programs are actually functioning outside of the home office, which will take place when the Henderson site is audited.

The Star designation is specifically designed for “exemplary worksites that have implemented comprehensive, successful safety and health management systems; and achieved illness/injury rates below their industry’s national average”. “Our recommendation for the Star Level clearly demonstrates our commitment to the safety of all our team and the passion we have with regard to being a World Class company,” said Ian Welsh, Vice President of Corporate Development.

Not only is this a great boon for the company, but it also helps to enrich the lives of RK workers on a personal level as well. JP Kennel said it best. “Safety and health has to be a part of what we do every day. In order for that to happen, the rules and regulations have to be backed from the officer level on down. That way, the employee truly knows they have the power to communicate when they see an unsafe situation, but more importantly, they know that the company truly cares about them and their family.”

By: RK Mechanical

RK Mechanical, Inc. won two Award of Excellence trophies at the ABC-EIC awards on October 19th. One was awarded for the new Rooftop at Coors Field and the other was for the work that RK did on the Aspen Art Museum. RK also won a second place Award of Merit trophy for the Denver Union Station project.

The Denver Union Depot, located at 17th and Wynkoop, opened to the public on June 1, 1881. Constructed by the Union Depot and Railroad Company of Colorado, it was the largest building in the West, at the time, at 500 feet long and 65 feet wide. Shortly after opening to the public the Depot was hosting between 60 to 80 trains each day heading to both mining towns and Plains cities.

1894 brought significant changes for the station. A portion had to be rebuilt after an electrical fire. The original Depot center was demolished that same year, due to increasing railroad operations and travel volume. The renovations were completed in 1914 and the Depot was renamed Denver Union Station. The iconic “Travel by Train” signs were added over the exterior clocks – their bright orange glow dubbed a new neighborhood landmark.

The west continued its explosive growth and Denver was no exception. In 2001, Denver Union Station was purchased by an RTD organized consortium, who has since been implementing a master plan, with the intent of creating one of the nation’s largest transportation hubs. Construction began on December 3, 2012 and in July of 2014, on its 100th Anniversary, Denver Union Station reopened to serve the Mile High City – restored and revitalized to meet the modern needs of an ever changing metropolis.

The new elegant and modern Denver Union Station is a mixed-use, transit-oriented hub featuring The Crawford Hotel, a 112-room independent hotel on the upper levels, 22,000 square-feet of ground floor space for up to 10 independent retail and restaurant operations, 12,000 square-feet of public common space, the ‘Great Hall’ and 4,000 square-feet of outdoor plaza space – all created with a faithful and confident nod to the iconic history that has played a vital role in the growth of Colorado and its capital city.

In order to help bring their conceived facility to life, Sage Hospitality Group, Larimer & Associates and Amtrak partnered with Milender White Construction Company for general contracting and Tryba Architects. With a proven track record of successfully completing complex multi-use downtown projects, RK Mechanical, Inc. was selected as mechanical contractor.

As an ASME and AISC certified contractor, RK Mechanical is rooted in tested processes designed to deliver predictable results. Surprise internal audits throughout the duration of the project helped to ensure that the team was doing what they said they would do with the appropriately trained and certified personnel, as well as properly documenting progress along the way. By ensuring clarity of goals and expectations, the RK Mechanical team was able to effectively work with on-site personnel at the mechanical manpower peak without compromise to standards.

Tracking deficiencies while building a hotel can be difficult due to the sheer number of rooms and spaces. Without a system to thoroughly document installation, it’s likely that quality could slip, creating lengthy punchlists. To avoid any unforeseen errors on the Denver Union Station Hotel, RK Mechanical implemented BlueBeam Studio software. The team loaded drawings onto Bluebeam Studio and coordinated walks with small business partners to ensure transparency and open communication. By using Studio, the team was able to do live updates to the drawings so that crews could walk the building and update the drawings at the same time.

In addition to BlueBeam, quality deficiencies were noted and photographed and the pictures were posted directly to the drawings and rooms where the issues occurred. These drawings were then shared with the entire construction team so that crews could stay on the same page and correct outstanding items. This method saved time in documenting progress and keeping the time sensitive punchlist items to a minimum.

There were a number of challenges regarding scheduling on the project that occurred before RK was on-site, including delays on large-scale orders of equipment from factories. These two factors had a ripple effect that stalled the rough-in finish on floors near the end of the project. To combat these unforeseen delays, the project team created weekly plans and schedules that included an extra meeting and walk-through of each floor with all trades. After the meeting and walk-through, the combined crew of trades would put together one week schedules, outlining trade-specific tasks with extremely tight sequencing. Each activity had a ‘sign-off’ that was posted on the floor plan to document that each trade was progressing as planned – this let the subsequent trade know what work was then available to them. Through this process, the team was able to overcome the project delays and stay within the original contract schedule.

Due to the building’s rich history and meaningful presence in Colorado, the transit hub has been a venue worth saving. In light of that, the project team was forced to work with and abide by the historical requirements set in place by the National Park Service (NPS). An agency of the United States federal government, the NPS manages all U.S. national parks, monuments and other conservation and historical properties. During the construction process, the NPS would randomly walk the jobsite and make special requests they deemed necessary to preserve the historical integrity of the building. It was nearly impossible for the construction team to anticipate what the NPS would find, often making their visits disruptive to work flow and schedules. However, while it was a great challenge to meet their high expectations while being mindful of budgetary concerns, RK Mechanical values the role it played in restoring the historic facility.

One of the main difficulties encountered in completing the project was an incorrect existing structural 3D model. The 3D model that was provided to the team for coordination and installation purposes was wrong. This error meant that when the CAD department drew in pipe or duct, it was often in conflict with existing structural beams or columns. To correct this potentially disastrous issue, the team placed two dedicated CAD team members on-site and left a field person at their disposal. The selected field person would run back and forth from the on-site CAD station to various structural elements within the building to verify the location of actual beams and columns. The RK crew was able to correct the structural model so it could be used as a tool to properly coordinate installation on the rest of the project.

By: RK Mechanical

RK Mechanical, Inc. was recently voted One of Denver’s Healthiest Places to Work by the Denver Business Journal. This means that not only is safety a major concern, but employees’ physical and mental well-being are high-level factors, too. RK’s wellness strategy includes discounted gym memberships, the employment of a full-time wellness coach, and no doughnuts at meetings.

RK Mechanical believes that to have a world-class company, you have to have world-class people who are cared for and encouraged to be healthier. By believing in doing the right thing, the family-owned business can further their already successful organization by ensuring that their number-one resource is healthy and happy.

RK’s prevention-oriented health/wellness program includes helping employees quit tobacco use, lose weight, eat healthier and exercise more through efforts such as corporate gym memberships, a wellness website and an onsite tobacco cessation clinic, which is available four times a year. RK also offers an employee assistance program for help with personal and work-related problems, in addition to overall well-being.

Wellness is an intentional action for RK and they have formulated a strategy for it. Even employees develop and organize their own programs, such as walking groups, biking to work, and even mountain climbing.

This past summer, RK had its annual summer wellness challenge. Employees set many unique personal goals while participating in a variety of activities and most participants who logged their food and exercise for the three month period accomplished some incredible results.

Over 100 employees and family members participated in the American Heart Association Walk on June 7th, which kicked off the challenge. After that, employees handed in food and exercise logs, as well as proof of participation in various events around town.

RK’s Special Projects department was the winning team, with the most days working out twice a day, including bike rides into work, a run at lunch, and biking home. They also participated in the AXS Glenwood Spring Adventure Race.

Two brave RK individuals Rode the Rockies for six days, traveling a total of 471 miles. Additional events included the Color Run, the MS 150 (two day bike ride), the Stampede Run, the Colorado Springs Incline, and the Donor Dash.

A policy of wellness also means having world-class safety standards. The company’s safety and quality efforts include having full-time, licensed safety and quality-control managers who demand top performance. RK also operates according to top safety/quality standards, such as the Occupational Safety & Health Administration’s (OSHA) Voluntary Protection Programs, earning Star Mobile Workforce certification.