Spotlight on Safety

June 1, 2005 — The National Safety Council (NSC), based in Itasca, Ill., will present NationsRent, Fort Lauderdale, Fla., with the “Green Cross for Safety Excellence Achievement” and “Recognition of Significant Improvement” awards June 30 at the Millennium Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles.

 

The Green Cross for Safety Excellence Achievement Award recognizes companies that have reported illnesses and injuries that involved days away from work equal to or less than 50% of the Bureau of Labor Statistics rate for their particular industry and that have had no fatalities during the calendar year. The Recognition of Significant Improvement Award acknowledges NSC member companies that have maintained or reduced the number of occupational fatalities, injuries, and illnesses that involved days away from work within their operation, based on a comparison against their prior year's performance.

 

Since NationsRent adopted safety as one of its core values, its safety records have improved dramatically, including a 41% reduction in recordable injury rates from 2003 to 2004, and an end-of-year recordable incident rate of 3.11 for 2004.

Safety Stand-Down Gets Attention in Texas

All commercial construction work in North and East Texas stopped May 18 from 10 a.m. to 11:30 a.m., as contractors conducted safety training activities to raise safety awareness among their employees in the first area-wide construction safety “stand-down.” Sponsored by industry trade associations and supported by OSHA, the event made a strong statement about the importance of safety to all construction workers. The industry trade associations represent more than 1000 contractors and 600 service and supplier companies.

"We're very proud to be one of the construction companies across the region who elected to participate and demonstrate our personal commitment to safety and the well-being of our workforce," said James Fentress, safety director, Rogers-O'Brien Construction Co. "The program's number one goal was to raise safety awareness by involving all elements of the workforce in sharing the training and hazard analysis activities."

Activities for this demonstration included training related to identifying jobsite hazards, reporting and correcting safety hazards, inspecting work areas and equipment, and reviewing all jobsite safety rules and procedures for all employees.

"Commercial construction activity has been on the rise throughout the area for several years, and as a result the industry had to increase its focus on improving safety awareness, practices and measures," said Warren Andres, board chair of QUOIN, a chapter of the Associated General Contractors of America. "We take very seriously the OSHA requirement that each contractor is responsible for providing a workplace free of recognizable hazards to the health and safety of their employees. In turn, each construction worker is responsible for complying with OSHA standards and their employers' standards, and employees also have the responsibility and right to stop work when a hazard exists that they cannot eliminate or control."

In addition to participating in safety training, construction workers used a form developed by QUOIN's safety leadership team to inspect their work areas, tools and equipment. The form, as well as workers' safety comments and recommendations, was returned to help measure safety awareness by employees. Future plans include circulating a summary of workers' safety recommendations to industry members, and conducting stand-down meetings on a quarterly basis.

The commercial construction trade associations participating in the stand-down include Associated Builders and Contractors, Inc., Black Contractors Association, QUOIN, and OSHA.



Industry Survey Sheds Light on Construction Death Causes

As reported in the May 13 edition of the SC&RA newsletter, falls, run-overs, and electric shock are the leading causes of construction deaths, according to the University of Tennessee's Construction Industry Research and Policy Center's 13th annual analysis of construction deaths investigated by OSHA.

The categories accounting for the highest percentage of the 707 cases analyzed included:

·         Fall from/through roof — 76 deaths, accounting for 10.7% of the total fatalities

·         Fall from/with structure (includes building collapse death and falls through a floor but not through a floor opening) — 74 deaths, accounting for 10.5% of the total fatalities

·         Crushed or run over by construction equipment operated by someone else — 56 deaths, accounting for 7.9% of the total fatalities

·         Electrocution by equipment such as a crane or ladder contacting wire — 47 deaths, accounting for 6.6% of the total fatalities

·         Electric shock from equipment installation/tool use — 43 deaths, accounting for 6.1% of the total fatalities

·         Trench collapses — 41 deaths, accounting for 5.8% of the total fatalities