NorthStar Receives Prestigious Safety Award.

Business Editors

BIRMINGHAM, Ala.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 13, 2003

NorthStar Communications Group, Inc. (NorthStar) was recently honored for it's 2002 safety record by the Associated Builders and Contractors, Inc (ABC). The Safety Award of Excellence Award, Silver Level, was presented

All entries were judged by a panel of dedicated safety professionals and scored using a point system based on applications that included a brief project description, man-hours worked, and copies of company OSHA 300 reports for 2002.

"This award reflects the commitment and culture around safety shared by the employees of NorthStar, our parent company BE&K and our clients," said Bill Johnson, NorthStar's president and CEO. "NorthStar recently launched a safety incentive program, Zero Incidents, to promote safety awareness and support the highest levels of safety performance," said Tom Anderson, Senior Vice President of Sales, Marketing & Business Development for NorthStar. "We could not maintain this environment without the complete support of our employees and clients whom both should be extremely proud of this achievement."

Headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama, NorthStar serves as the stand alone telecommunications subsidiary of BE&K, Inc. NorthStar offers a full suite of wireline and wireless infrastructure services as well as network operations and maintenance solutions. For more information regarding NorthStar's service offering, refer to our website at www.northstar.net.

Editor's Note: BE&K, through its global network of affiliate companies, provides engineering, procurement, construction and maintenance services to the process, manufacturing, industrial, power, and telecommunications industries. Forbes has placed BE&K among the "Top 400 Privately Held Companies in the U.S." BE&K has also been recognized as an industry leader in family friendly workplace practices, honored as a recipient of Working Woman magazine's "Diversity Champion" award, and included in Fortune Magazine's listing of "Best Places to Work in America." This year marks the 30 year anniversary of BE&K.

For additional BE&K company information please contact: Robin Paulding at (205) 972-6688 or pauldingr@bek.com; or visit our pressroom at www.bek.com for electronic copies of this release and related graphics.