Construction Safety: Protecting the Workers Who Build Our Businesses

In 2004 there were 32 construction-related fatalities in North Texas and industry leaders recognized that something had to be done. In 2005 the Associated General Contractors of America (AGC), along with the Associated Builders and Contractors, The Black Contractors Association and The Hispanic Contractors Association of DFW joined forces to create the SAFE Stand Down Initiative.

What is a SAFE stand down? SAFE stands for Safety Awareness For Everyone, and is an event where all participating general contractors stand down from building their projects to provide focused safety training to all workers on their jobsites. The initial SAFE Stand Down in 2004 included jobsites in Dallas and Fort Worth, and the initiative was quickly embraced by other AGC chapters. The May 2007 stand down was the first to go state-wide, with general contractors participating in Dallas / Fort Worth, Waco, Lubbock, Amarillo, Houston, Austin, San Antonio and Brownsville. AGC reports that 306 general contractors participated in this event, stopping work at more than $2.1 billion in commercial construction projects to train 5,200 workers.

"Every stand down gets bigger and bigger," said Dino Sideris, Safety Director for Bob Moore Construction in Arlington, Texas. "We saw how successful the training sessions were in the Metroplex and rolled the concept out to the rest of the state. It's very gratifying to know that the efforts we put in motion in 2004 are now improving the welfare of more than 5,000 workers around the state.

"We cover a different subject in each stand down," Sideris added. Previously we covered fall protection and electrical equipment inspections. Recently we trained workers how to use checklists and job hazard analysis to pre-plan and engineer tasks. Because the training is developed shortly before the stand downs, we're able to target our subject matter directly to the trends we're seeing."

"The SAFE stand-down reinforces our commitment to maintain safe jobsites," said Ed McGuire, Vice President of Construction for Bob Moore Construction. "If we general contractors are willing to shut down multi-million dollar projects so we can talk to every worker about safety, we're going to get their attention. It reaffirms our insistence on safety compliance to our subcontractors, our site superintendents and our employees at every level. We want everyone to be aware that on our jobsites, safety is a requirement that we will enforce very aggressively because we have to, legally, and because we want to. It's the right thing to do."

The OSHA Partnership is a program that grants authority for more self-governance to a select group of general contractors that have demonstrated their commitment to the spirit and the letter of OSHA requirements. The approval process to become a local OSHA Partner takes several months and includes an extensive review of the contractor's written safety program and records, input from the contractor's insurance company on worker compensation claims and a jobsite inspection by local OSHA leadership. All local partners are reassessed for program eligibility on an annual basis.

Prior to 2003, OSHA provided a state-level partnership program for general contractors based on their safety program and workers compensation claims. In 2003, OSHA worked with The Associated General Contractors of America to implement a new, more stringent local partnership program. For local partnerships, contractors must achieve all state program requirements, but must also implement standards that exceed OSHA requirements and demonstrate superior safety leadership on their jobsites. As such, the more select group of local OSHA partners are automatically rolled into the state partnership program.

"As a Partner we essentially become empowered by OSHA," said Dino Sideris, Safety Director for Bob Moore Construction. "With this certification we can perform OSHA-level control of our jobsites without the agency's active, on-site participation. This is a tremendous partnership of trust based on a demonstrated track record of excellence. Our safety standards are in no way diminished - in fact, they're increased to levels well above minimum legal requirements and we will continue to meet rigorous reporting requirements to the agency. The difference is that we're now empowered to respond to safety matters more efficiently and aggressively than before because we have earned the trust of OSHA that allows us to take on more ownership of our program."