Workers from Area Erectors put structural steel in place on Tuesday, April 18, 2023, at the future Hard Rock Casino near East State Street and Lyford Road in Rockford. (Photo by Kevin Haas/Rock River Current)
By Kevin Haas
Rock River Current
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ROCKFORD — Hard Rock Casino’s construction leaders have signed a partnership with federal and state safety officials designed to provide the highest standards for worker health and safety throughout the massive project.

The agreement was signed Tuesday at the Mid-America Carpenters Regional Council of Carpenters Apprenticeship & Training Center, which is just a few blocks south of the construction site at East State Street and Interstate 90.

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Ringland-Johnson Construction, which is managing the project, signed on to the partnership with Mid-America Carpenters Regional Council, the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration and the Illinois Department of Labor. Other trades and labor representatives were at the signing in a show of support.

“This is essentially the pinnacle of what public/private partnership really means,” said Erik Kambarian, chief of the state Department of Labor’s division of Occupational Safety and Health. “You have the private sector, you have the federal government and you have the state government all collaboratively working together to make sure that worker that puts on that vest and that hardhat every morning gets to go home.”

Workers from Area Erectors prepare to raise structural steel on Tuesday, April 18, 2023, at the future Hard Rock Rockford casino. (Photo by Kevin Haas/Rock River Current)

Hard Rock broke ground on the 180,000-square-foot Rockford casino in September, and the partnership is the result of six months of talks to ensure the safety of roughly 1,200 workers who will be involved in the project, said Brent Johnson, president of Ringland-Johnson Construction.

“We want to do everything we can to make sure we’re the top of the top in terms of worksite safety, equipment safety, worker awareness safety,” Johnson said. “It’s more than a buzz word.”

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OSHA still has enforcement authority under the partnership, but construction leaders and supervisors work collaboratively with OHSA to develop the appropriate safety systems.

OHSA also makes regular monthly visits to the site instead of random or annual inspections, and there are regular check-ins with site supervisors.

Workers with Area Erectors set a steel beam in place on Tuesday, April 18, 2023, at the future Hard Rock Casino Rockford. (Photo by Kevin Haas/Rock River Current)

Such partnerships are typically reserved for large-scale projects. OSHA Naperville Area Office Director Jake Scott said the partnership with Hard Rock is the only active one in the region.

“The scale of the project is massive,” Johnson said. “We want help from everyone on the site and all the experts to really raise the level of such a big project.”

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Al Jotautas, safety director for the Mid-America Carpenters Regional Council, said that all construction sites take safety precautions, but this partnership represents the highest standards.

“You will not see this on all sites,” Jotautas said. “When you see an OHSA partnership, it’s to the level of everybody being proactive.”

A safety orientation training sticker that reads “don’t gamble on safety” is displayed on Brent Johnson’s hardhat on Tuesday, April 18, 2023, at the Mid-America Carpenters Regional Council of Carpenters Apprenticeship & Training Center. (Photo by Kevin Haas/Rock River Current)

The agreement was signed a little less than two weeks after the first steel columns were erected for the future casino. Johnson said construction crews benefited from a friendly winter and were able to complete all the foundation work before spring.

“You can see the steel is rapidly going up just in the last week or 10 days,” Johnson said.

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The future casino is expected to have more than 1,000 slot machines, dozens of table games, a sports book and multiple dining options. There will also be a Rock Shop for merchandise, a live entertainment venue with up to 1,800 seats and music memorabilia throughout the venue. An eight-story hotel is planned for a later construction phase.

Outside the casino will be a 90-foot replica of one of Rock and Roll hall of famer Rick Nielsen’s checkerboard guitars, which will rise above the interstate as a city landmark much like the former Clock Tower.

Hard Rock leaders said it’s still too early to set a target completion date for the casino.

An Area Erectors employee walks across a steel beam on Tuesday, April 18, 2023, at the future Hard Rock Casino Rockford under construction near East State Street and Interstate 90. (Photo by Kevin Haas/Rock River Current)

This article is by Kevin Haas. Email him at khaas@rockrivercurrent.com or follow him on Twitter at @KevinMHaas or Instagram @thekevinhaas

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