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. 

ABC is reminding its contractor member firms that 2014 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 Feb. 1 through April 30. 

The ABC Heart of American Chapter and OSHA formalized an alliance to protect the safety and health of Missouri and Kansas construction workers during a signing ceremony Jan. 15. 

Safety Training and Evaluation Process (STEP) applications for 2014 may still be submitted, but time is running out as ABC will cease processing applications on Dec. 15 in order to close out the year and begin the annual STEP data analysis. This analysis, completed using data submitted by STEP participants, provides ABC members who apply for STEP a benchmarking tool for their companies compared to other STEP participants of similar work type/size and the rest of the construction industry. 

ABC member companies were honored by the Construction Users Roundtable (CURT) as they accepted 11 out of the 14 Construction Industry Safety Excellence (CISE) awards at the Nov. 11 CURT National Awards gala in Houston, Texas.

National Safety Excellence Award (NSEA) applications are due Oct. 31 and can be downloaded on ABC’s website. All 2014 Safety Training Evaluation Process (STEP) Diamond and Platinum recipients are eligible to apply and there is no fee to participate. New STEP Gold recipients may also apply for the NSEA by submitting the NSEA Gold application and $450 application fee. ABC members who do not have STEP status can learn more about STEP on ABC’s website.