UniversalPegasus International (UPI) was awarded the prestigious Vice President’s Gold Medal Safety Award. This award is TransCanada Corporation’s (TransCanada) highest award for safety performance, awarded for an exceptional safety record for work on the Keystone Cushing Extension Project.

In a ceremony on May 4, 2011, UPI’s President and Chief Executive Officer, John M. Jameson, along with Michael Queen, Vice President of Corporate Safety, and Hans J. Kast, Keystone Project Director, all proudly accepted the award on behalf of the UPI team. Jameson was quick to comment that the team’s efforts coupled with UPI’s continuing commitment to safety has directly resulted in new opportunities with TransCanada, as well as other industry leaders. Jameson added “In light of today’s heightened public scrutiny of our industry, clients have a high level of expectation that the value added services provided by UPI for engineering, survey, and construction inspection and management must set the highest standards for safety performance. UPI’s commitment to leading the way for safety is of utmost importance for our employees’ well-being, and makes solid business sense for our clients and stakeholders.”

TransCanada’s Vice President, Robert Jones, presented the award, commenting that of the many service providers on the Keystone Cushing Extension Project, UPI was one of only two contractors who met the award’s high criteria through exceptional safety performance. Jones further commented that UPI’s achievements made the Project TransCanada’s best safety performer and also helped TransCanada become a top percentile safety performer among its peer group. UPI worked over 729,000 man-hours and drove over 5.1 million miles without a major incident while providing on-time and on-budget construction inspection, survey, engineering and other support services to the Project.

Completed earlier this year, the Keystone Cushing Extension Project extends the first phase of the Keystone pipeline system. The extension is a 36 inch pipeline of approximately 480 kilometers (298 miles) from Steele City, Nebraska to the storage and distribution facilities in Cushing, Oklahoma, a major crude oil marketing, refining and pipeline hub. The extension also included the construction of four new pump stations as well as expansion of the pumping units for 22 of the existing 23 pump stations constructed during the first phase of the pipeline system. UPI was an integral part of the team that executed these first two phases of the Project and will remain so for the next two major phases of the Keystone XL Expansion, a 2,673 kilometer (1,661 mile) expansion to the Keystone pipeline system.

For more information, visit www.universalpegasus.com.