The construction industry is a wonderful industry to work in, offering a wide range of opportunities. The benefits can often be vast: a good salary with a path for advancement; a position where you can contribute to the greater good by constructing homes, buildings, or infrastructure; and the chance to be a part of a team that works together to make all of this happen.
Of course, any industry comes with its challenges. For the construction industry, perhaps some of the biggest include addressing the safety and mental health aspects, as the AGC (Associated General Contractors of America) suggests a construction worker is five times as likely to die by suicide than workplace safety hazard.
We must make our construction jobsites safe in every aspect. We must focus on ensuring our workers go home to their families at night. We must take up this mantle to ensure the construction industry prepares for what needs to be built next by focusing on the most important assets: the people.
How can we do this? Let’s consider this from multiple different angles.
Safety Mandates
First, let’s talk about legislation, leaving politics aside. The reality is mandates on construction jobsites can help create a culture of safety that has a long-lasting impact. Consider the example of hard hats, which didn’t become mandatory on most jobsites until the 1970s. Once hard hats became mandatory, deaths began to drop. Certainly, it is only one part of the equation, but it can help.
If we are being honest here though, some mandates easily fall short. Consider the new proposed new federal heat safety rule from the OHSA (Occupational Health and Safety Admin.). AGC suggests many in the construction industry already do this to protect workers and that it falls short because it does not address disparate impacts of heat in various parts of the country, recommending the final version of the rule should take into consideration regional difference in weather patterns.
Still, mandates set the stage for a culture of safety, but so do companies. So, perhaps, the focus should be on the culture surrounding safety.
A Culture of Safety
This is precisely what JLG suggests in its new whitepaper, which offers strategies for creating a safety first culture. By definition, a safety culture is related to the principles or values an organization attaches to worker safety. It is embedded into the very fabric or an organization. While it is hard to achieve and is a continuous journey, JLG suggests it can be achieved in any organization, of any size.
In its whitepaper, it addresses ergonomics, storm safety, trip hazard safety, lone workers, heat, hydration, PPE (personal protective equipment), hearing protection, and mental health safety.
That last point is going to be key, as we begin to see a new generation of workers emerge on the construction jobsite. The industry is also plagued by a suicide rate of roughly four times the national average. The numbers are downright scary. This is a conversation I had earlier this year with Michael Pink, CEO, SmartPM Technologies, on The Peggy Smedley Show about the importance of focusing on mental health in construction and how to use technology to be a partner in all of this.
Consider Technology
Finally, as we are embarking on this new era of safety in the construction industry, we must also consider how we interact with technology at every stage of safety. Data is key for many things in construction, and it could help save a life.
The JLG whitepaper points to wearables as an example. Proactive monitoring can help prevent dangerous situations and allow work to be performed with less risk. Devices can monitor vital signs, alert the worker of danger, and sense the environment around the worker.
Looking beyond wearables, we know safety software can also help track trends on a jobsite and do preventative maintenance, ultimately creating a safer jobsite. Drones can fly into hard-to-reach locations, meaning workers don’t have to risk their lives. AI (artificial intelligence) can identify hazards and automate tasks. The opportunities are endless, and the sky is the limit.
Still, from my perspective it all of this starts with culture. It starts with the company creating core values and a culture around safety. It starts with valuing the workers.
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