‘Better to be safe than sorry’

Meghan Diemel

Contributor

September 7, 2026

DE PERE – “Better to be safe than sorry” isn’t just a popular colloquialism – leadership and employees of IEI General Contractors, Inc. have made it a core company value and part of their daily operations. 

President Chris Berg said that commitment contributed to the company being named a 2025 Associated General Contractors (AGC) of Wisconsin safety award winner, recognizing its workplace safety and health record.

Berg said IEI follows an established safety program adapted from AGC of America and Wisconsin Chapter safety policies and procedures, which emphasizes compliance with federal, state and local regulations, including OSHA standards for the construction industry.

He said that approach helped IEI record zero lost workdays in 2025 and earn recognition from the AGC.

Berg said safety remains central to everything the company does.

“We will gladly take eight hours to do something in lieu of two hours to do it, if the two hours means we’re doing it unsafely and the outcome isn’t going to be what we want,” he said. 

An all-too-real experience

Berg said it was an accident earlier in the careers of company founders Mike Johnson and Brad Deprez that set the dedication to safety in motion.

While Johnson and Deprez were employed with a contractor that is now out of business, Berg said there was an incident that resulted in one of their coworkers being severely injured.

Berg said Johnson and Deprez were responsible for meeting the injured employee’s family at the hospital.

He said he believes the experience was the all-too-real impetus for their philosophy that’s been carried through in the operations of IEI to the present day.

“We have no problem spending the time,” he said. “We have no problem spending the money on equipment – anything to make it safer so everybody goes home, because I don’t want to have to go to the hospital and face a family.” 

Berg said much of workplace safety comes down to common sense – taking a moment to assess a situation and determine the safest way to approach it.

“If you see something that doesn’t look right, say something…,” he said. “We’ve said it many times: ‘[If] that little voice is going off in your head, just slow up for a second and think, is this really the right way to do this?’” 

Addressing safety from several angles 

Berg said IEI’s safety program is the foundation for everything it does.

He said the company prioritizes safety for employees, subcontractors, customers and the public, requiring its foremen and superintendents to hold all applicable safety certifications. 

Berg said field employees participate in weekly safety toolbox sessions, and the company relies on third-party safety professionals and educators for on-site inspections, training, consultations and reporting.

What began as monthly or twice-monthly meetings with the company’s foremen, he said, has since expanded to include AGC safety training programs for employees. 

Now, Berg said new employees receive hours of detailed safety training that extends beyond their work at IEI, providing lessons they can carry throughout their careers and lives. 

“Once [a year] for sure, sometimes twice, we’ll have a company-wide safety meeting where every job shuts down,” he said. “Everybody comes in, and we’ll bring in speakers. We’ve had speakers come in on mental health. We’ve had speakers come in on scaffold building. We’ve had speakers come in on proper tool maintenance – anything we can think of that plants a seed in [the employee’s] head.”

Passing the benefits onto clients 

Berg said IEI’s safety record has helped the company maintain an exceptional mod rate, which can translate into insurance savings for customers and lower overall project costs. 

A “mod” rate – short for modification rate, also known as the experience modification rate (EMR) or E-Mod – he said, is a measure insurers use to evaluate a construction company’s safety record and calculate workers’ compensation premiums.

Berg said it compares a contractor’s injury claims with those of similar companies. 

When workers’ compensation claims reflect injuries, medical costs and lost work time, he said the company’s mod rate can rise above the 1.0 baseline.

Berg said this rate is then applied to the workers’ compensation premium.

For example, he said a $100,000 policy with a 1.3 mod rate would cost $130,000. 

Berg said IEI’s strong EMR benefits clients by lowering the company’s overhead and allowing it to remain more competitive when bidding on projects.

Once safety expectations are established, Berg said the focus shifts to maintaining those standards.

In addition to leadership modeling best practices on the job site, he said IEI uses several other measures to reinforce daily safety expectations.  

“That’s where the toolbox talks and the individual inspections – both from the third party and from our insurance company – keep reinforcing that,” he said. “In the beginning, there was a lot of education, a lot of talking about it. Now, it’s more reinforcing, talking about new ideas, new processes, new tools that maybe can make things easier on people’s backs and knees. Now, it’s just constantly reinforcing and growing with it.”

Rooted in integrity, excellence, innovation, family 

Berg said the company – which has carved out a niche in work for the healthcare, education and nonprofit sectors – is rooted in simple philosophies: integrity, excellence and innovation.

He said IEI is also family-oriented, with many second-generation and even third-generation employees on staff. 

“A lot of our people have joined us and have retired with us, and we’re very proud of that,” he said. “I think we’re one of the few construction companies in the area where somebody could come in – like me – fresh out of college, come on as a project manager and eventually work your way up to ownership.”

Berg said the philosophy, while perhaps less common today, remains a foundation of the company’s approach and has helped drive its success. 

“I also think that’s one of the reasons we’ve had so much success with safety – everybody watches out for everybody,” he said.

Berg said he is greatly appreciative of everyone who made this achievement possible, from employees to spouses and even their kids, as it takes investment from everyone to ensure the safety of others.

“When we see them and we talk to them, I try to talk about [safety practices] because that helps drive it in, too,” he said. “It really is a team approach. It’s everybody working together… We have to watch out for each other.”

For more information on IEI General Contractors, visit ieigc.com.