OSHA, Safety Week call on construction professionals to “stand down” on May 8 to raise awareness for workplace hazards

(UI) – Construction safety is in everyone’s interest. Falls from elevation remain a top cause of death for construction workers, constituting more than one-third of all recorded construction fatalities in 2022 (BLS data). Those deaths were preventable. 

This year, in a continued effort to raise fall hazard awareness across the country and stop fall fatalities and injuries, OSHA will host its 11th National Safety Stand-Down to Prevent Falls in Construction.

In celebration of Construction Safety Week, an annual, weeklong industry-wide initiative focused on safety and now in its 10th year, and as an extension of Safety Week’s mission to “together, build a stronger, safer industry”, Safety Week and OSHA are partnering to pause work sites throughout the U.S. on May 8 to create the largest industry-wide construction stand down ever held. The group invites construction professionals unable to participate to “stand down” anytime during the week of May 6-10.

 If you cannot participate on May 8, we invite you to stand down with us any time during the week of May 6-10.

“We must work together to prevent and eliminate hazards in our work.  Every voice on our site that shares a safety suggestion or concern deserves to be heard and valued. Every construction worker deserves to leave our site at the end of the day in the same, or better shape, than they arrived.  And every friend and family member of the people on our sites has the right to trust that employers are looking out for the safety and health of their loved one.  Demonstrate to your team members that you believe this to be true,” the groups said in a joint statement.

Construction Safety Week is an annual event designed to raise the awareness of the industry’s ongoing commitment to building a culture of safety through sharing best practices, tools and resources at job sites and offices across the U.S. and Canada.

Safety Week was founded by members of The Construction Industry Safety Initiative (CISI) and the Incident & Injury Free Executive Forum (IIF) and now includes 70 of the top contractors in the industry, representing thousands of workers.

With the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970, Congress created the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to ensure safe and healthful working conditions for workers by setting and enforcing standards and by providing training, outreach, education and assistance. 

OSHA is part of the United States Department of Labor. The OSH Act covers most private sector employers and their workers, in addition to some public sector employers and workers in the 50 states and certain territories and jurisdictions under federal authority. Those jurisdictions include the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, American Samoa, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, Wake Island, Johnston Island, and the Outer Continental Shelf Lands as defined in the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act.

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