By SARA BONGIORNI Advocate business writer The industrial commercial contractor said plant security already was rigorous, but offered an anecdote that illustrates how the world in which he works has changed over the past five months. Recently, a plant safety officer informed Moore he didn't have authorization to sit under an oak tree outside its gates, where he and some Moore Construction employees had gathered for a weekly lunchtime Bible study. It was a first for Moore, and just one example of the additional caution plants are exercising in and around their facilities, he said. "There's definitely been a change," Moore said. "But it's not (going) overboard. Safety and environmental concerns are what has made our business." Safety concerns drive Moore's business in more ways than one. His company builds blast resistant control buildings, outwardly nondescript block structures that house the critical electrical equipment that runs the plant. The buildings are designed to protect people and equipment from the impact of exterior or interior explosions. The firm also builds so-called safe havens where people can go in the event of an explosion or chemical leak. Typically, the structures are pressurized to prevent chemical leaks from entering the building. Moore's interest in safety extends beyond what he builds to how he builds. He earned 2001 state and national "Excellence in Construction" awards from the Associated Builders and Contractors for a project he completed in late 2000 for Shell Chemical. The award-winning project involved construction of two electrical substations under a building schedule that was lopped from three months to two because of the timing of a planned unit shutdown. Moore used a variety of alternate construction methods to speed the construction schedule. He also rotated work schedules to ensure Moore employees' were at the site 12 hours a day, seven days a week. Despite the additional challenge of rainy winter weather, the firm completed the job in eight weeks -- compared to the original 14-week schedule -- after logging	8,640 man hours without a single accident, injury, illness or lost workday. "In school I was taught not to be creative," said Moore, whose firm was a subcontractor to Cajun Constructors on the Shell project. "What happened on this job is we had to be creative ... because this changed the normal timing completely." Moore's safety record on the project was an important factor in the judges' decision, according to a national ABC spokesman. "Safety was a big focus of it," said spokesman John Strock. Reading from the judges' scoring sheets, Strock noted that Moore's firm scored 30 out of a possible 33 points in the competition's safety component. "The thing they were strongest on was safety," Strock said. Moore will receive the national award in the category of firms with less than $2 million in annual revenues at the ABC's national convention in New Orleans next month. Several things make Moore's firm unusual among industrial contractors. First, there's the firm's niche in control buildings and the fact that he does no commercial work outside the gates of his industrial clients. There's also the gates of his industrial clients. There's also the firm's small size. Moore employs 13 full-time staff members and grossed $1.4 million in revenue last year. Moore's heavy reliance on his own staff also differs from most contractors. Roughly 70 percent of the work his company does is performed by his own employees, a rarity among contractors, he said. "We do the work ourselves, whether it's building the blocks or putting in the hardware," Moore said. "That's unheard of. That's what makes us different." He said relying on his own employees for most aspects of his projects gives him -- and his clients -- more control over the building process, allowing him to build with optimal efficiency and safety. Although his firm is small, Moore has experience with large-scale contracting -- and literally massive projects. After studying
		construction at LSU, Moore worked for contracting giant Blount International in Atlanta. Blount, whose projects include the New Orleans Superdome, sent Moore to Saudi Arabia from 1981 to 1983 where he helped manage construction of a $225 million building at King Saud University. It took Moore 10 minutes to walk the length in the structure, equal in size to four football fields. It was the largest building in a more than $2 billion project, the largest lump sum bid in modern history. Back on U.S. soil, Moore started his own firm at age 29, just shy of a self-imposed deadline. He had told himself that if he didn't have his own business by age 30, he probably never would. Moore offered a frank reason for his focus on industrial control buildings: "That's where the money is. There's no question." The money has grown over the past 17 years. Gross revenues were $126,000 his first year. In 2002 he expects to realize his biggest year so far, with revenue of about $2 million, despite a slow national economy that has made it tough going for contractors in general. His firm does about 15 projects each year, he said. This year's anticipated revenues "are not because there's more work but because we're getting more of it," Moore said. He said the size of the region's control-building market is one reason more firms don't do more of the work.	"There's not enough control work in this town for you to do $30 million," he said. "Otherwise, everybody would be doing it." He also said plants like the fact that control buildings are his company's specialty, not a side line that makes up just a fraction of its business. Tighter security controls after Sept. 11 also are keeping some competitors at bay, he said. Plant security "is very serious and that's always been the case. ... (but) now it's eliminated our competition from becoming competition because it's too hard," he said. Moore has seen demand for blast-resistant buildings grow steadily over the years, a trend that accelerated sharply over the past three to five years. Plant safety has improved dramatically over the past five years as new technology has provided heightened protection from the human and financial costs of possible accidents, Moore said. Heightened interest in safety is reflected in the use of steel in control buildings. Years ago, inserting steel rebar in the center of the blocks every four feet would have been considered rigorous, Moore said. Now, using rebar every 16 inches is typical, he said. "The (exterior of the) structures are pretty simple, (but) what's become more complicated is the actual design," Moore said. "Safety is key.”