Contact: Gail Raiman, (703) 812-2073 For Immediate Release
Gerry Fritz, (703) 812-2062 August 21, 2009
Washington, D.C. – Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) today credited voluntary employer workplace safety initiatives, as well as Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) programs and training, for the decline in construction fatalities. The U.S. Labor Department Aug. 20 reported that construction fatalities in 2008 fell 20 percent from the previous year to 969, resulting in a preliminary fatality rate of 9.6 per 100,000 workers. The final report will be released in April 2010.
“These early numbers are supporting the case that self-directed integration of safety into their company’s culture is continuing to yield dividends for progressive contractors and their employees alike,” said Craig A. Shaffer, CSP, chairman of ABC’s Environment, Health and Safety Committee and president of Safety Works, Inc., Dillsburg, Pa. “It is of utmost importance to ABC members that every employee return home safely to his or her family at the end of the day.”
To support safety on the job site, ABC offers the Safety Training and Evaluation Process (STEP) program to its members. This simple, yet effective safety management and improvement tool allows member contractors to regularly evaluate and strengthen their programs, yielding safety performance that is consistently better than the industry average. For example, when compared with national construction averages, ABC members that participate in STEP have fatality rates that are 58 percent lower, OSHA injury rates that are 30 percent lower, and 90 percent fewer OSHA citations. OSHA has recognized STEP’s effectiveness and is using the program as the cornerstone of many local and regional partnerships.
In addition, ABC offers its members safety classes through its chapters and annual Construction Education Conference, a meeting for construction craft professionals and managers, with the purpose of providing a safe and healthy workplace. Topics include fall protection safety, steel erection safety, electrical safety, scaffolding safety, trenching and excavation safety, OSHA's 10-hour and 30-hour construction outreach, and a 100-hour Construction Site Safety Technician program. Construction safety documents are also available to members for use as a template on which to build their own custom workplace safety programs, policies and procedures.
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Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) is a national association with 79 chapters representing 25,000 merit shop construction and construction related firms with two million employees. Visit us at www.abc.org.