Big Picture Player
Louisiana’s Mike Moran takes a broad view of the industry,
especially when it comes to safety and performance
Mike Moran is passionate about
what he does. Moran is president
of Cajun Deep Foundations of
Baton Rouge, La. and a distinguished member
of PDCA, where he sits as a director
with responsibilities to the Safety Committee.
“Every one of us in the industry has
a moral obligation to look after those that
work for us so that at the end of the day
people are able to come home to family from
jobs without injury,” he said, pointing out
that in the past heavy construction work
was either safe or productive. “Technology
and skills have now taken us to a place where
this is no longer the case. At PDCA and
Cajun Deep Foundations, we are focused on
changing mindsets to create the right mentality
across the board for safer work sites.”
Moran has been with Cajun for 28
years and in his current position as president
for the past seven. Today, even with
responsibilities to manage the overall operations
of a $40-million fleet of equipment
and more than $80 million in projects,
Moran remains focused on both safety and
performance. In fact, all of Cajun Deep
Foundations’ safety and business development
managers report directly to Moran,
who has the duty of assessing the needs of
each project and overseeing the assembly of
team project management and field supervision
that is best suited to succeed on each
particular project.
“By paying attention and staying
focused on the need for greater safety, we
have been able to drive our safety record
in the right direction,” he said. “We have
found that this has proven to be the correct
business model and today I can say that this
type of thinking is part of the culture of
Cajun Deep Foundations.”
A division of Cajun Industries LLC,
Cajun Deep Foundations is a leader in all
areas of deep foundations work including
driven piles, drilled shafts, auger cast-inplace
piles, earth retention, marine piles,
helical piles and more.
“We are in a unique market compared
to some of the other trades. For us it’s a
small brotherhood and by being part of
an organization such as PDCA means an
opportunity to network with others about
new concepts as well as industry concerns,”
DISTINGUISHED PDCA MEMBER
said Moran, a civil engineer (Louisiana
State University) who worked his way up
the company ladder after starting as surveyor.
Over those years, he watched as technology
made huge strides.
“Today, software where we can look
at things like wave equations and analysis
have become more commonplace and costs
have come down. Even hammer selection
By Kelly Gray
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