From Trailer Bottlenecks to Real-Time Safety on Brasfield's Data Center Projects

Data center construction moves fast. There’s no room for delays, guesswork, or buried paperwork.

For Brasfield & Gorrie, managing safety across complex, phased projects meant finding a better way to keep teams aligned, compliant, and moving in real time.

With HammerTech, they’ve replaced manual processes with instant access to critical safety information, eliminating bottlenecks, improving visibility, and giving field teams the confidence to answer any question, at any moment.

THE PROBLEM -

When safety documentation can’t keep up with the jobsite

Data center construction leaves little room for friction or interpretation. Tight schedules, phased delivery, and strict client requirements mean that safety programs need to do more than exist on paper. They need to work in real time across hundreds of workers and constantly changing conditions.
 
Brasfield & Gorrie, one of the largest privately held general contractors in the United States, has seen this complexity first-hand as its data center portfolio has grown. 
 
Senior Superintendent Mike Mizer brings over 26 years of construction experience and has delivered nearly 20 data center projects across the country. As demand for mission critical work accelerated, the limitations of traditional paper-based safety processes became harder to ignore.
 
This creates a high-pressure environment where coordination, communication, and compliance all need to happen simultaneously. 
 
At the same time, workforce conditions are constantly shifting, with rotating crews, specialized trades, and strict site access requirements driven by client expectations.

"Some of our bigger clients have strict safety guidelines that require a lot of compliance as far as documentation."

For field leaders, the job isn't just managing the work - it's proving, in real time, that the work is safe, compliant, and under control.

On fast-moving jobsites, delays in retrieving information create friction. If an owner asks to review a permit or a safety manager needs documentation, there’s no time to track down a binder or locate the right person. Even routine processes, like orientations, created bottlenecks.

"Orientation was the first 3-4 hours of my day. Every day, you had 50-60 people standing on your trailer [waiting to start].”

For projects built on tight sequencing, those delays added up quickly, impacting productivity and confidence in compliance.

THE SOLUTION -

From one project to fifteen – scaling what works in the field

When HammerTech was introduced at Brasfield & Gorrie, it wasn’t a top-down mandate - it started with a single project and a push from the field.

Prior to joining the team in 2022, Mizer had utilized HammerTech at a previous firm, learning the ins and outs of the platform.

When Brasfield & Gorrie was considering a construction platform for their safety workflows, he mentioned his HammerTech experience. The rest is history.

After piloting the platform on a large data center project, adoption spread quickly. 

"We now have about 15 projects using HammerTech. Word’s getting out, which is great."

WHY HAMMERTECH -

A platform that fits the reality of phased construction

What drove that growth wasn’t just functionality, but how well the system fit the day-to-day operations: orientation, permitting, safety observations, and documentation all in one place, accessible from the field, not just the trailer.

"Getting out of the paperwork business has been life changing. HammerTech absolutely streamlines all these processes, making my life a lot easier.”

 
On phased data center projects, plans shift constantly. Keeping teams aligned without interrupting work is critical. Instead of relaying updates manually, Brasfield & Gorrie uses HammerTech to push information directly to field leaders.

THE RESULTS -

No more guesswork. Just answers.

For Mizer, one of the biggest shifts for the team is confidence. 
 
Instead of scrambling to find documentation, teams can respond immediately when questions come up, whether from owners, client representatives, or regulators.

“Compliance is a big part for me. We partner with OSHA and encourage them to walk [the jobsite] with us."

During these walk-throughs with OSHA, Mizer and the team utilize the project information in HammerTech at their fingertips. If a question from OSHA arises about permits or SDS, they can answer right away.
 
“We’re trying to be transparent,” Mizer adds. “You don’t want to give a government entity, like OSHA, any kind of hesitation. For me, I have it all right here documented.”

That immediacy matters, especially under scrutiny. With everything centralized, compliance becomes something teams can demonstrate on demand. They don’t have to reconstruct it after the fact.

Reporting, once requiring manual effort and coordination, is also now immediate.

“The Insights module is huge,” Mizer remarks. “When my owner asks for safety metrics, I can literally click a button, make it into a PDF report, and send it to them.”

Previously, Mizer would call his safety team to pull the relevant information together into a report. Instead, HammerTech allows the team to respond faster to client requests while freeing up safety managers to focus on the field, not paperwork.

COMPOUNDING VALUE -

Safety consistency across projects, without rework

Managing workforce qualifications across projects is another layer of complexity in mission critical construction.
 
HammerTech enables Brasfield & Gorrie to track certifications, training, and safety records in one place, so carrying that information from job to job is easy.

"If an electrician goes from my data center job to another job that is using HammerTech, all that safety information goes with [them]. That is awesome.”

This reduces onboarding time, improves consistency, and ensures that workers are properly qualified before stepping onto the site. Adoption hasn’t been solely driven internally, but across subcontractors as well.

“The field loves HammerTech,” Mizer says. “A lot of them already use it with other general contractors.”