Construction Group Uses Mobile Tech to Make Highway Work Zones Safer

Fifty-four percent of highway contractors reported that motor vehicles had crashed into their construction work zones during the past year, according to the results of a new highway work zone study conducted by the Associated General Contractors of America. In response, association officials have launched a new mobile advertising campaign urging drivers who routinely pass through certain work zones to slow down and be alert. “There are simply too many cars crashing into too many work zones, putting too many lives at risk,” said Spokesman Ken Kubacki, chairman of AGC’s Highway and Transportation Division;  Western Region Projects executive, Granite Construction … Read more

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3 Safety Tips Beyond the Gear

By Michael Barnes Ensuring that workers on a construction site are staying safe and responsible can be an overwhelming task for everyone involved. At any given time, there are numerous high-risk tasks being performed and it can be easy to overlook simple precautions that could prevent serious or even fatal injuries. Some examples of common risks that deserve ample recognition and attention include fall, struck-by, electrical and fire hazards. While protective gear is certainly important, the real challenge is in finding ways to go “beyond the gear” to eliminate these types of hazards, and more. There are three simple, but … Read more

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ABC, BCSP Ink Deal to Promote Construction Safety

Associated Builders and Contractors and the Board of Certified Safety Professionals signed a memorandum of understanding to collaborate on improving occupational safety and health at construction workplaces throughout the United States. The partnership is centered on developing effective prevention strategies and technologies, as well as encouraging students and other professionals to choose occupational safety and health as a career and advance their competency in that field. “ABC is committed to an incident- and accident-free workplace, which we advance through research on best practices, education and benchmarking tools—our Safety Training Evaluation Process,” said Greg Sizemore, ABC vice president of HSE & … Read more

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The Construction Chart Book 6th Edition Now Available

The sixth edition of “The Construction Chart Book: The U.S. Construction Industry and Its Workers” has been released. This Center for Construction Research and Training mainstay, with its extensive statistical portrait of the construction industry, has become an essential reference for all construction stakeholders, such as policymakers, researchers, contractors, labor unions and management, construction workers, safety professionals, trainers and reporters. Take a look inside the new Chart Book and you will learn that: Construction unemployment dropped from a peak of 27.1 percent in February 2010 to 7.5 percent by the end of 2015 (page 20). There were 144,583 active apprentices … Read more

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CPWR Quarterly Data Report Examines Caught-In/Between Injuries, Prevention

Caught-in/between hazards are among OSHA’s Focus Four causes of occupational fatalities in the construction industry. This category includes workers killed when trenches, walls, equipment or materials collapse, as well as people pinched/compressed between objects and equipment or caught in moving machinery. A new CPWR Quarterly Data Report, Caught-in/between Injuries and Prevention in the Construction Industry, examines fatality and injury statistics from 2003 to 2015. Key findings include: From 2011 to 2015, 275 construction workers died from caught-in/between injuries, more than any other major industry In 2015, 68 construction workers were killed due to caught-in/between injuries, a 33 percent increase from … Read more

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