The new Liberty Mutual Safety Innovation Award in Construction recognizes innovative evidence-based technologies, work practices, and programs designed to reduce or eliminate hazards that lead to injuries and pain in the construction industry. Sponsored by Liberty Mutual and administered by CPWR, the award includes a $15,000 cash prize to the winning individual or organization; in addition, one or more honorable mentions may be awarded, each with a $5,000 prize.

Find out more, including how to apply, here.

Applications must be submitted no later than February 29, 2020.

The Arkansas Amputation Prevention Stand-Down is scheduled for September 4 to October 4.  During this event, employers and workers will take time during their workday to focus on how to prevent amputations.

A public kick-off event for the Stand-Down will take place on September 4 in Bentonville, Arkansas. This event is free and open to the public and will feature discussions on amputation prevention, along with testimonials from individuals who have suffered life changing injuries due to an amputation.  While this is an Arkansas-based event, people from around the country are welcome to participate in the kick-off event either in person or through a live webinar. 

Participants can register for the live webinar at:  https://zoom.us/j/691359593?status=success

PtD encompasses all of the efforts to anticipate and design out hazards to workers in facilities, work methods and operations, processes, equipment, tools, products, new technologies, and the organization of work. The focus of PtD is on workers who execute the designs or have to work with the products of the design. The initiative has been developed to support designing out hazards, the most reliable and effective type of prevention.

A one-day meeting on the topic of PtD will be held Friday, September 27, 2019 at New York University
in Brooklyn, NY.  For more information and to register, visit https://www.agcnys.org/wp-content/uploads/Prevention-Through-Design-final.pdf.

The National Safety Council just published an article in Safety + Health Magazine highlighting CPWR’s recent Quarterly Data Report on Trends of Fall Injuries & Prevention in the Construction Industry.

The number of fatal falls to a lower level among construction workers increased from 2011 to 2017 – reflecting a surge in employment – although the rate of such incidents decreased 25%. The construction industry added about 1.8 million jobs between 2012 (8.9 million workers) and 2017 (10.7 million). Of the 10.7 million workers, 367 died after falling to a lower level in 2017 – up from 260 in 2011 – for a rate of 4.2 per 100,000 full-time equivalent workers. That rate was 5.6 in 2011, the report states.

Other results:

• Workers at organizations with fewer than 20 employees comprised 75% of fall-related fatalities between 2015 and 2017.
• Although roofers experienced fewer fatal falls in 2017, the rate of fatal falls among the subgroup – 35.9 per 100,000 FTEs – was more than 10 times greater than the rate of all construction occupations combined.
• Workers younger than 25 suffered fatal falls at a rate of 2.0 per 100,000 FTEs in 2017, compared with 13.1 per 100,000 FTEs among workers 65 and older.

“The findings in this report emphasize the importance of the ongoing [National Fall Prevention] Campaign, and the need to further reduce falls among construction workers,” the report states. “The construction industry continues to report more fatal falls than any other industry.”

An article published August 13, 2019 by Occupational Health & Safety explains that this silent toxin is both colorless and odorless, and exposure to it is often deadly.  That’s why the U.S. Department of Labor does not take carbon monoxide (CO) matters lightly.

One seemingly minor slip-up can have detrimental and hazardous effects. As one case between the U.S. Department of Labor and AJR Landscaping company shows, simply starting a gasoline-fueled machine in confined quarters is a violation of safety protocol and a potential death sentence. A U.S. Department of Labor OSHA news release goes into further detail.