OSHA Issues Recommended Practices to Promote Workplace Safety, Health Programs in Construction

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Occupational Safety and Health Administration issued Recommended Practices for Safety and Health Programs in Construction to help industry employers develop proactive programs to keep their workplaces safe. The recommendations may be particularly helpful to small- and medium-sized contractors who lack safety and health specialists on staff. Safety and health programs encourage finding and fixing workplace hazards before they cause injuries, illnesses and deaths. Implementing these programs also helps reduce the financial difficulties these events can cause for workers, their families and their employers. Contractors can create a safety and health program using a number of simple … Read more

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CPWR Offers New Online Safety Climate Assessment Tool

When a company’s management and workers alike believe that safety is valued, recognized and rewarded, that means it has a positive safety climate. Thousands of construction contractors and others in the industry have already used CPWR’s safety climate workbook to review and improve their company’s safety climate across eight leading indicators. Now CPWR has a new S-CAT website that companies can use to learn more about safety climate and complete a Safety Climate Assessment Tool to measure their safety climate maturity in more detail. Visitors to the website learn about safety climate and then can answer the S-CAT questions for … Read more

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Secretary of Labor Renews Charter of Advisory Committee on Construction Safety and Health

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Secretary of Labor Thomas E. Perez recently renewed the charter of the Advisory Committee on Construction Safety and Health. The Federal Advisory Committee Act requires that all advisory committees renew their charters every two years. The renewed ACCSH charter, expiring Nov. 17, 2018, includes minor updates to better describe the management of the committee’s records. ACCSH, established under the Contract Work Hours and Safety Standards Act and the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970, advises the secretary of labor and assistant secretary of labor for occupational safety and health on construction standards and policy matters. ACCSH … Read more

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Study Gives Insight Into Most Stolen, Recovered Construction Equipment

CANTON, Mass., and IRVINE, Calif. – LoJack’s “2015 Construction Equipment Theft Recovery Report” and infographic highlights the ongoing problem of thieves targeting construction businesses for their high value equipment. The report identifies equipment categories and classes, manufacturers and geographies where theft is most likely to occur. Heavy equipment is the most vital asset of construction businesses. Contractors and rental fleet owners not only lose valuable assets, but also lose efficiency and miss schedule deadlines when equipment is stolen. The cost of equipment theft can be devastating to the national economy generally, as well as to the profitability of small and … Read more

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Report Reveals Construction Worker Perceptions of Worker Safety

Much information about workplace safety and health comes from reports filed by employers. In 2015, the annual National Health Interview Survey included an Occupational Health Supplement – giving workers an opportunity to speak up about safety and health in their workplace. The CPWR Data Center recently analyzed the responses. Among the standout findings: More than 60 percent of American workers consider their workplace “very safe” – but fewer than half of construction workers think so. That’s the lowest number for any U.S. industry except agriculture. Construction workers were far less likely to enjoy workplace access to health promotion programs, such … Read more

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