Annual Event Promotes Workplace Safety Across USA and Canada
Construction safety week brought together industry leaders from more than 60 companies to keep workplace safety at the front of everyone’s minds.
For years, the UK has been held up as a benchmark for health and safety in the construction industry, but this month’s Construction Safety Week in the USA provided the strongest indication yet that North America is also looking to bring H&S to the top of the agenda in one of the most hazardous industries imaginable.
The event took place over the first week of May, and saw participation from a huge range of high profile players in the construction industry. It was the joint initiative of two industry safety bodies, the Incident and Injury Free CEO Forum (IIF) and the Construction Industry Safety group (CISI).
They banded together for a week-long mission to raise overall awareness of the construction industry’s ongoing commitment to the reduction and elimination of worker injuries. The initiative examined a number of aspects, from better training and risk management at the various stages of a project from planning through to implementation, along with site safety signs and accident reporting processes.
The organisers were also eager to send out the message that everyone has a role to play in improving health and safety, and to encourage a culture of shared responsibility. The message was very much along the lines that every week should be Safety Week.
Events
The idea of Safety Week was to provide some resources and discussion points that could be covered in team meetings at construction sites all across the country. It was a week when everyone could just take a few minutes out to focus on this vital topic.
Each day, there was a specific topic up for discussion. The topics were as follows:
- Monday: Hand Injuries
- Tuesday: Analysing Hazards
- Wednesday: Types of Gloves
- Thursday: Teamwork and Incident Response
- Friday: First Aid
There were also a number of signature and press events at some major construction sites around the USA, including at a road construction project in Florida and at the site of a major extension to the LA Metro in California, to further raise the profile of the project.
Tone From The Top
In order to strengthen the message of commitment from the top, management personnel were encouraged to make personal visits to as many job sites as possible over the course of the week, to join safety briefings, conduct their own safety inspections and engage one on one with as many members of their workforce as they could.
In addition, they were encouraged to make project-specific Personal Commitment Pledges that addressed their own commitment to and engagement in workplace safety, and to come up with an action plan that would make a measurable difference in 2017. Best of all, they were asked to share this pledge with the workforce and invite feedback.
A Growing Safety Culture
We all know that the workforce is a company’s most important asset, and every organisation should have the subject of “looking after its people” at the top of its agenda from a business, ethical and human perspective.
Nowhere is this more critical than in the hazardous world of construction. Change has to come from within, and Safety Week is the strongest evidence yet that this is really happening.