Safety and Health

Peer Safety Reviews

AWCI’s Safety and Health Committee conducted two peer safety reviews during 2024. These reviews have been an excellent source of networking and information transfer among companies, in a non-competitive framework of encouraging and helping fellow safety professionals.

The first peer safety review was at OCP Contractors in Cleveland, Ohio, April 29–May 1. Representatives from six member companies visited OCP’s regional office and three active job sites, providing recommendations and review of systems and procedures.

The second peer safety review was with PCI in Kansas City, Kansas, from October 21-24. Mike Hill with PCI facilitated and coordinated interviews with 16 individuals; some worked at PCI headquarters and included PCI’s CEO and COO, as well as their general manager and superintendents from their Kansas City branch. The review was primarily of the Kansas City branch and included tours of the new branch office, “Project Kansas” (a large facility for Panasonic) and the University of Kansas football stadium.

Safety and Health Webinars

AWCI presented multiple webinars on safety topics, ranging from “Lessons Learned from Peer Safety Reviews,” “What Keeps You Up at Night,” and “Workplace Violence Prevention Plan: What You Need to Know.” While we had many attend these live webinars, we saw an uptick on YouTube.com with more than 1,000 views of the Workplace Violence Prevention webinar.

BUILD24 Presentations

Prioritizing Safety in Tool Innovation and Design
Speaker: Gregg Malanga, Arrow RevealCUT

Opioid Risk Reduction: First Dose Prevention Strategies for Home and the Workplace
Speaker: Cal Beyer, SAFE Project

Industry Leaders Conference 2024

The Human and Financial Costs of Substance Misuse in Your Workplace
Speaker: Cal Beyer, SAFE Project

Construction Dimensions Magazine Articles

Does a Zero-Tolerance Approach to Safety Make Us Safer? Or, Does It Increase Safety Problems and Injury Severity?

Zero-tolerance safety policies in construction are often implemented with the goal of reducing risks, but these policies can have unintended consequences.

The Risk of Respirable Crystalline Silica

On March 7, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) levied over $15,000 in fines to Smith Foundry in Minneapolis.

Value Every Voice: Management Engagement in Safety

The great thing about AWCI’s Peer Safety Review experience is the learning doesn’t happen just at the job site or in a conference room; learning also happens around the breakfast table or in a bar or restaurant as these professionals share their experiences, problems and solutions.

Work Safely in Warmer Weather

As we move into the warmer months, it is important to understand the different safety issues that contractors must address as working conditions change.

Soft Tissue Injuries

Soft tissue injuries are damage to ligaments, tendons or muscles. This damage can happen from a single event, such as a fall or impact, or over time from a series of repetitive motions.

OSHA Safe + Sound Week

OSHA Safe + Sound Week is a nationwide event held each August that recognizes the successes of workplace safety and health programs and offers information and ideas on how to keep America’s workers safe. AWCI spread the word with several emails and social media messaging across all communications channels, sharing information and resources with our members about staying safe.

Suicide Prevention

Mental health and suicide prevention are major issues in the wall and ceiling construction industry. In 2024, AWCI continued a social media awareness campaign to provide resources and information about this important topic during the month of September. We will keep this as a top priority not only as a safety and health concern, but also to provide resources for our members dealing with at-risk individuals and situations.