DEERFIELD, Ill. — NES Rentals rolled out its Yellow Ribbon Campaign for a dual purpose: to emphasize the priority it places on customer and employee safety and in order to support U.S. armed forces and veterans.

The Yellow Ribbon Campaign, the latest addition to NES' annual equipment inspection process, will involve placing a yellow ribbon on pieces of equipment that are current with their annual inspection. NES employees will visit all its customers with equipment on rent and for each piece that is not compliant NES will make a $500 donation in that customer's name to the Wounded Warrior Project, a non-profit group founded to honor and empower severely wounded veterans.

“NES Rentals is committed to the highest safety standards,” said Andrew Studdert, NES Rentals chairman and CEO. “We're putting our money where our mouth is for a good cause and to further elevate safety in the minds of our employees and customers. Due to our aggressive pursuit of high safety standards, there is a good chance we won't find any equipment not in compliance, so we have committed to a minimum donation to the Wounded Warrior Project of $10,000.”

NES began the campaign on Veteran's Day, Nov. 11, as part of a line of safety priorities NES has introduced to its employees and customers and has helped the company achieve high customer satisfaction scores. Also, NES Rentals has been recognized for safety achievement in 2009 by the International Powered Access Federation and the National Safety Council.

“We're doing unannounced walk-arounds with our customers and going on to our equipment and doing a check to make sure the annual inspection is current,” Studdert told RER. “If we determine it's current, and they have all been so far, we put an 8- to 10-inch yellow ribbon on each one of our pieces of equipment. We're doing it to make sure the customer has a safe work environment, to make sure that our records are current, but also it's a way to differentiate ourselves.”

Based in Deerfield, Ill., NES Rentals is No. 6 on the RER 100.