By Joseph J. Landino, CHST-STS, Safety Director, Ajax Paving Industries, Inc.

Throughout history, the construction industry has been one of the most hazardous work sectors. Construction fatalities account for more than 40 percent of fatal workplace accidents, which is a large number considering that only 4 percent of the nation’s workforce is employed in construction. One out of 10 construction workers is injured on the job every year. Even more, construction has the third highest rate of death by injury; for every 100,000 workers, 15.2 die as a result of a workplace injury. Why does this occur? Are we in too much of a hurry to complete tasks? Is the repetitiveness of our jobs causing us to become careless? Is it our environment? The weather? The engineering? These are all good questions that every contractor faces on a daily basis.

Below, a chart illustrates the number of workplace injuries and fatalities over a six-year span for Michigan.

As you can see from the graph, the number of injuries and fatalities is slowly declining. As contractors, we need to evaluate work practices over and above Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and Michigan OSHA expectations to reduce these numbers and send our employees home safe every night.

At Ajax Paving Industries, Inc., we evaluate workplace accidents within our organization to determine the root cause. After all the data is compiled, we examine and discuss all that led up to the incident. When we determine the root cause of the incident, we then discuss how to make sure it never happens again. This is not a simple task and could take numerous hours to complete, but in the end, results are obvious.

When the 2004 season ended, our incident rate was 9.98; at the end of the 2006 season, it was reduced to 4.65. While we’ve seen improvements, it can never be overemphasized that safety should be everyone’s utmost concern. But as we become more involved in getting the job done, it sometimes slips our minds or becomes a lower priority. So, as a daily reminder, Ajax is placing campaign signs at all of its plants to remind our employees, subcontractors, and visitors to:

“Work safely today. Remember, someone expects you home tonight!”

Stickers also will be placed on our equipment to remind every employee out in the field to work safely. Zero injuries is our goal for our employees, subcontractors, and everyone else who works on or visits our facilities or job sites.

In closing, I want to encourage everyone to analyze what you’re going to do before you do it, figure out the possible hazards, and put in place the proper safety measures to eliminate any opportunities for injury. By doing this, everyone benefits in the long run.