Ben Goode has built a 27-year career around preventing the moments that draw attention.

As Haskell’s Director of Corporate Safety, he oversees the company’s safety strategy across its markets and supports the people responsible for carrying it out on project sites. The work depends on planning, training, data and clear expectations, but Goode measures success simply: Everyone goes home safely.

That makes personal recognition an unusual position for him. When colleagues surprised him with Haskell’s quarterly Living the Values Award, Goode was grateful but admittedly uncomfortable.

“Everybody knows I don’t like extra attention,” Goode said. “I work in the background, and recognition isn’t really my thing. I caught myself telling people I received an award for doing my job, so I appreciated it.”

The presentation became more meaningful when Goode saw that his wife and daughter had been invited.

“Having them there meant a lot,” he said. “I want my daughter to understand that doing the right thing when nobody is looking matters. Sometimes people recognize it, even when recognition is not the reason you do it.”

Goode did not enter college with safety in mind. At Murray State University in Kentucky in the late 1990s, he planned to pursue nursing. A summer job in medical technology made him reconsider whether the clinical side of health care fit the career he wanted.

He returned to friends, professors and advisers to consider another path and chose occupational safety and health. The change came as he was preparing to marry and work full time, but he completed the degree in four semesters while carrying at least 19 credit hours each term.

“I realized safety was proactive,” Goode said. “I could help prevent something from happening rather than respond after the fact. I found a path in the field and fell in love with it. Here we are 27 years later.”

Safety Program Specialist Sarah Richards nominated Goode for the award, which recognizes team members who consistently demonstrate Haskell’s core values of Team, Excellence, Service and Trust.

“His dedication, kindness and reliability make a meaningful impact on everyone around him,” Richards wrote. “He encourages others to be better and makes Living the Values look easy simply by being himself.”

Goode became Director of Corporate Safety in May 2025, a position in which he helps set companywide safety standards and supports the programs, training and field practices used to identify hazards before work begins.

Corporate Safety also analyzes leading-indicator data from projects to identify recurring risks and improve how teams communicate and control them. That work supports Haskell team members, contract partners and others working on the company’s sites and facilities.

“There are so many people who shape safety at Haskell,” Goode said. “My job is to support the people doing that work and help give them what they need to succeed. The mission is to make sure everyone goes home safely at the end of the day.”

The results offer one measure of that collective effort. In March, Haskell earned its fifth consecutive Associated Builders and Contractors National Safety Excellence Pinnacle Award and its sixth in seven years. The Pinnacle Award is ABC’s highest safety honor.

“Safety is a team effort,” Goode said. “We have a strong group pulling in the same direction, and I would grab the rope with any of them.”

Learn how Haskell’s safety program uses planning, training and field data to reduce risk across its projects.