Identifying ways to support your workforce is one of the first, simplest steps to improve safety across your company. The industry is rapidly changing, and there are new technology and tools to make everyone safer. Top-performing contractors now utilize software and apps to review safety performance at the touch of a button.

Modern day top leadership engagement is continuing to trend away from the traditional command-and-control approach. Far from the “I think it, you do it” model, the total human health approach to top management is all about leadership—curious, engaged and relational. Safety isn’t left to chance or considered the responsibility of just the safety director; safety is managed and led just like every other operation in the company, from accounts receivable to customer experience.

Equipment of any kind needs to be accompanied by training, evaluation, inspection, follow-up and, most importantly, an operator who understands the potential hazards and carries out their duties in a safe manner. Safety is everyone’s responsibility throughout the entire organization, and everyone needs to be fully and thoughtfully engaged. Proper training, culture and mindset is the key to success and lower incidence rates.

The roadmap to building a strong health and safety culture begins with improving new hire safety orientations and intentional incident investigations. It seems simple, but the reality is that this journey does not happen by itself. We must be committed to safety as a core value every day and in every situation to achieve industry-leading results. Leaders and all team members must be committed to supporting each other to drive results.

Matt Abeles, ABC vice president of construction technology and innovation, sits down with Autodesk University host Eric Thomas to talk about the ABC Tech Alliance and how it is revolutionizing the construction industry, making everyone safer along the way.

Safety training equips supervisors to lead and manage projects, people, processes and policies. This training is enhanced through frequent, regularly scheduled safety meetings involving supervisory staff and the company safety director. These intentional, agenda-driven meetings go beyond training and education, helping to develop relationships as challenges and successes are shared.

Intentional, purposeful two-way communication is vital to a successful workday. Daily communication builds resilient relationships and enables a group to accomplish mission-driven tasks with a high degree of safety, quality and effectiveness. Daily toolbox talks and consistent start-up inspections create the environment where both communication and safety coexist successfully. The ABC STEP Safety Management System is designed to help you accomplish this to strengthen your safety culture. 

Some would say safety is common sense, others know it’s about relationships and intentional planning, equipping and supporting. When safety isn’t integrated with full communication from the beginning, the workforce could be put at higher risk if time, logistics and budgets are stretched too thin. Incorporate pre-planning for safety in every aspect of the job to ensure your team returns home safely at the end of every shift.

Safety training, education and professional development are all critical to a top-performing company. These investments can powerfully shape culture, reinforce expectations, provide valuable feedback and equip the workforce to meet or exceed expectations. When people are engaged and equipped in a way that is meaningful to them, they will choose to work safely because they want to. And they will continue to do so if they are supported with proper planning and resources. This creates a strong and effective health and safety culture.

Safety rules affect safety culture. Seeking workforce input on procedures is vital to creating that culture, as a key component to ensure safety goals are attained is workforce engagement. When developing or updating a safety program, you must ask your team for input, suggestions and feedback to ensure buy-in, understanding and adherence. Learn how to communicate both universal and situational safety rules and policies.

Planning for a successful safety program starts with setting goals, implementing proper recordkeeping procedures and ensuring documentation is correct. ABC's STEP Safety Management System provides the framework to drive improvements in construction safety programs through recordkeeping and benchmarking in 25 key components. Discover four helpful tips for submitting OSHA incident data. 

On Sept. 8, Rep. Rick Allen, R-Ga., a member of the House Education and Labor Committee, introduced the ABC-supported Truth in Employment Act, H.R. 5178. This legislation would amend the National Labor Relations Act to protect small businesses and their employees from the coercive tactic used by big unions known as “salting,” which makes small businesses targets of harassment campaigns designed to increase forced unionization.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration recently announced it had renewed its partnership with ABC’s Central Texas Chapter and promoted the partnership as a success story. In an article posted to its website, OSHA highlighted a number of collaborative programs between ABC and OSHA that led to a significant safety achievement: The 2016 combined Days Away, Restricted or Transferred (DART) rate for participating contractors was 50 percent below the 2015 U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) average.

Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) announced the winners of the National Craft Championships, the 2016 National Safety Awards, the National Diversity Excellence Awards and the Excellence in Construction® Awards during its annual conference Workforce Week ’17 in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Workforce Week is ABC's annual celebration of the best in merit shop construction, recognizing the contributions of members, chapters and craft professionals to the construction industry and their dedication to excellence.

The 2016 National Safety Award Pinnacle, Excellence and Merit Winners are:

ABC recognized the country’s top construction projects as well as leading company-wide safety and diversity programs at the 26th annual Excellence in Construction® Awards gala March 2 in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

The 2015 National Safety Award Pinnacle, Excellence and Merit Winners are:

ABC is reminding its contractor member firms that their 2015 Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) Form 300A work-related injury and illness log summaries must be posted in a visible spot on all construction sites from Feb. 1 through April 30. 

ABC member companies were honored by the Construction Users Roundtable (CURT) as they accepted eight of nine Construction Industry Safety Excellence (CISE) awards at the Nov. 10 CURT National Awards gala in Houston, Texas.

OSHA Aug. 4 released a guide titled, “Training Requirements in OSHA Standards,” that compiles information related to the agency’s mandatory safety and health training for workers into a 266-page document that is divided into five chapters, including one focused on construction safety training.

Throughout Safety Week 2015, May 3-9, ABC, its’ members and many other organizations within the construction industry partnered to highlight the importance of being safe both on and off the jobsite. To kick off both Safety Week 2015 and OSHA’s annual National Stand-Down to Prevent Falls in Construction, ABC conducted a toolbox talk stand-down event in Washington, DC with members HITT Construction and Power Design, Inc. for more than 200 employees on a HITT and Power Design Atlantic Plumbing jobsite. The event covered personal fall arrest system orientation, personal protective equipment inspections, slips, trips and falls, and incorporated electrical loc

OSHA released its latest version of their “Job Safety and Health—It's The Law!” poster April 29 which employers must display if covered by the OSH Act or be subjected to citations or penalties if they fail to do so. Employers do not need to replace previous versions of the poster. The poster is free and can be downloaded on OSHA’s website. 

OSHA issued a final rule for confined spaces in construction on May 4, which mirrors the general industry standard but adds certain provisions tailored specifically to the construction industry including an emphasis on training, monitoring and evaluating, as well as communication on multi-employer sites. The rule is set to go into effect August 3.

In the construction industry, safety should be the number one priority on every jobsite and with the increased use of new technology such as BIM, the industry is finding ways to not only reduce onsite injuries, but to reduce the overall construction schedule at the same time. 

Every year, more than 80,000 workers suffer an injury on construction job sites across the U.S. One incident is one too many— life is too precious not to make safety the number one focus in the U.S. construction industry. With the common goal of building safety together, ABC is joining the Construction Industry Safety (CISI) initiative and the Incident and Injury Free CEO (IIF) Forum for the second annual Safety Week May 3-9.