Construction Safety Week 2024: Creating a Culture of Workplace Safety

While workplace safety should be a priority year-round, Construction Safety Week is a perfect opportunity to reassess practices that are already in place, get feedback from your team, and implement any new practices needed. For Construction Safety Week 2024, Unistrut Midwest is focusing on further strengthening our company culture of workplace safety. 

Workplace safety begins before any team members step on a lift, activate machinery, or even put on their PPE. It starts with a company culture of communication, radical candor, and teamwork around maintaining safe worksite practices and conditions. 

Keeping Construction Workers Safe

Safety practices have come a long way from the early days of construction, but even with advancements in technology, equipment, and awareness, the construction industry still has the most workplace deaths when compared to other sectors, with falls as the leading cause of death in construction accidents. 

No project is worth the cost of a team member’s health, safety, or life, and ensuring safety from major hazards is often the main objective of safety training. But even seemingly minor worksite incidents can add up over time. Consider these statistics:

• OSHA maximum penalties range from $16,131 to $161,323 per violation depending on the type of violation
• The National Safety Council estimated that work-related fatalities and injuries cost $167 billion in 2021
• In Ohio, Workers’ Compensation rates can be up to $1,195 per week

In comparison, online OSHA certifications cost $60-$180 to complete, depending on the course. With such safety training, your team can identify potential hazards, protect themselves and others from injury, and improve overall site safety, which is invaluable. 

Some of the top hazards in the construction industry include:

• Working at height
• Moving objects (vehicles and machinery)
• Slips, trips, and falls
• Mental health issues
• Excessive noise

At Unistrut Midwest, we know that our project sites can have anywhere from one to all of these hazards, which is why creating a culture of workplace safety is so important. 

How to Create a Culture of Workplace Safety

Workplace culture is created by everyone in an organization, from leadership and management to the newest employee. But crucial changes, like adjustments to safety policies, are often most effective when they come from the top. 

A leadership team that invests in safety training and is proactive about implementing safety regulations demonstrates to the rest of the team that they take protecting workers seriously. Creating and enforcing that value can help create a strong culture of safety in your organization. 

What does a culture of workplace safety look like? A few key points include:

• Being transparent about health and safety across the organization
• Encouraging open dialogue between management and workers about potential hazards
• Leadership that takes ownership of health and safety issues
• Anticipation and correction of unsafe acts and conditions
• Implementing departmental safety plans
• Surveying staff for honest feedback on safety conditions and protocols

Like any core value, a commitment to safety is proven through actions, not words. This Construction Safety Week, we encourage leadership teams to evaluate and, if you haven’t already, implement risk controls and protocols like:

• Machine safeguarding or guardrails
• Anti-slip floor treatments
• Mandatory safety training for everyone in a facility, regardless of their role or risk level
• Requiring use of PPE like helmets or eye protection
• And much more

By starting at the top with these actions, your leadership team can show their commitment to protecting workers and preventing injury. 

Partner with a Team that Values Safety

When you work with Unistrut Midwest, you know that you’re partnering with a team that is dedicated to both quality and safety. All of our installation teams are OSHA-trained and our leads and warehouse managers are qualified by OSHA 30. We even have authorized OSHA outreach trainers in OSHA 10/30 in both the construction industry and general industry. Our teams complete weekly safety logs at all locations, and we conduct regular safety meetings to discuss site- and project-specific hazards. 

Our team is always striving to be safer than the day before while also delivering better work than the day before. That commitment to improvement benefits not only our team but our clients as well. The safer our team is day to day, the less chance of diminished workforce due to time off for injury or illness. That means there is always someone available at Unistrut Midwest to prep, deliver, and install client solutions in a safe and timely manner. 

Contact our team to find out how our commitment to quality and safety can help you.