Last Friday's awards provided a bit of a lifetime crowning moment for Wayne Erceg who owns abrasive blasting and coating specialist Rudolphs with his wife Caroline.
Rudolphs took the ACC Workplace Safety Award and the 2012 Golden Bay Cement Excellence in Business/Medium Business Award (10-24FTE).
Wayne was offered a jobat the company when he was 17, shortly after the firm was founded 41 years ago - and never left. He became a director in 1987, and with Caroline, a shareholder in 2002. The couple took over ownership in 2007 and two years later implemented a rigorous training, safety and development strategy aimed at supporting and continuously improving the overall operation.
"We work in a very high risk environment and frequently in very confined spaces and safe practice has to be an absolute priority for the whole staff," said Mrs Erceg. She said the company's health and safety performance had improved tremendously over the past three years, acknowledged with ACC's highest level of accreditation for workplace management practice. Attention had also been paid to developing very strong relationships with key customers and suppliers. Wayne and Carolyn Erceg both work in the business full-time, with 18 others.
