St. Louis Central Library, recipient of the Safety Award in ENR Midwest's 2013 Best Projects Competition, also received the Safety Award in ENR's annual Best of the Best Competition, in which winners of regional contests compete for national titles in 19 categories. All entries are reviewed by a panel of industry experts.

Work on the 100-year-old, 200,000-sq-ft Central Library encompassed full restoration of the facility's Great Hall, foyer and large historic rooms.

St. Louis-based general contractor BSI Constructors executed the project's safety program in accordance with provisions of OSHA’s Voluntary Protection Program (VPP), which places specialemphasis on hazard prevention and control and job-site analysis, in addition to training and cooperation among management and workers.

Among other criteria, workers were required to complete OSHA 10-hour or 30-hour courses before arriving on site for work. At the time of the project, BSI was the first and only general contractor in OSHA’s Region VII to have been admitted into OSHA’s VPP program.

Despite difficult working conditions, including extremely cramped conditions while converting a sub-basement coal bin to an auditorium, workers logged 291,000 man hours on the library without lost time to accident.

St. Louis Central Library also was named Best Renovation/Restoration Project in Midwest's Best Projects Competition.