WASHINGTON — About 1,000 hard hats and safety vests converged on the National Mall on Wednesday as construction leaders highlighted Construction Safety Week’s “All In Together” mantra.
During the event, Construction Safety Week and OSHA signed an official partnership to advance total worker health together. The collaboration includes a focus on preventing serious injuries and fatalities, as well as aiding with overall life concerns, such as mental health struggles.
The gathering on the cloudy, rainy day marked the 13th annual National Safety Stand-Down to Prevent Falls in Construction, a Gilbane Building Co.-led event in partnership with OSHA to highlight training and awareness. Industry leaders have been holding events throughout the week to call attention to safety and reinforce best practices around fall prevention and protection.
Other invitees included industry partners, skilled craft, labor and OSHA officials.
“This is what construction safety is all about,” said Adam Jelen, CEO of Gilbane Building Co. and chair of the Construction Safety Week executive committee, during the event. “We have one shared goal, and that’s to send everybody home healthy, safe and most importantly, better than when you came.”
The alliance with OSHA aims to provide information, guidance and access to training and education, according to Gilbane.
“We took another important step forward through a new alliance signed just moments ago with OSHA, deepening and strengthening our long-standing partnership,” said Jelen. “Stronger awareness, better education, and more importantly, greater impact.”
This year, Construction Safety Week introduced a new technical bulletin series developed by its technical committee. These bulletins support a more consistent, proactive approach to high-risk hazard management across the project lifecycle.
“Over the last decade, approximately 1,000 construction fatalities occur each and every year, and five times this number in suicide each and every year,” said Jelen. “This is about saving lives.”
The emphasis on total worker health aims to highlight safety practices beyond physical hazards, meaning both on and off the jobsite for workers. Leaders at the event stressed that to do this will require alignment across contractors and regulators, and especially within individual teams.
“One is too many. One fall is too many. One serious injury is too many. One fatality is way too many,” said David Keeling, assistant secretary of labor at OSHA, at the event. “Our job is to block and tackle for you. I want to make sure that this group understands you have OSHA’s total commitment when it comes to doing the right thing for you, for your families and protecting you and the companies you work for.”
