Thursday, May 28^th, 2020 at 2:00pm EDT: Increasing Awareness of Factors that Influence Trench Safety
Presenters: Joe Wise, Regional Customer Training Manager at United Rentals Trench Safety, and Eileen Betit, CPWR’s Research to Practice (r2p) Director.
Trench incidents and fatalities have increased over the past several years – so much so that OSHA, intent on reversing this trend, updated its National Emphasis Program on Trenching and Excavation in October 2018. Learn about a collaborative effort to increase awareness and knowledge of the factors that may contribute to trenching incidents and fatalities and ways to mitigate the risks.

Register Here

The Occupational Safety and Health Act requires construction employers to provide a safe and healthy workplace. To do this, construction industry employers should develop a comprehensive COVID-19 exposure control plan, which includes control measures, symptom checking, social distancing, hygiene and
decontamination procedures, and training. An exposure control plan and the following recommendations should be followed before any onsite worker is found to have COVID-19 because many people with COVID-19 are asymptomatic and can potentially spread disease.

As work is reopening in parts of the United States where it has been shut down, for the continued protection of our members and in our capacity as the bargaining representative for those members, the Building Trades Unions believe these are the minimum standards employers should implement as part of their COVID19 exposure control plan on all jobsites.

The Safety Stand-Down, originally scheduled for May 4-8, 2020, has been postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The event will be rescheduled this summer.  In the meantime, we encourage you to remember that falls are still the leading hazard in construction and should be an area of focus year-round.  Visit the Stop Construction Falls website for tools and resources that can be used anytime, including a number of videos and webinars that can be used as part of virtual training efforts.

Updates on the Stand-Down, along with new materials, will be added to the site when available.  CPWR’s 2020 Hardhat Sticker order form has been closed temporarily, but will be re-opened when we are able to resume shipping.

For more information on COVID-19, including an up-to-date Guidance Document for the construction industry, visit www.cpwr.com/covid-19.

From the Construction Industry Alliance for Suicide Prevention
https://mailchi.mp/32e4c3444860/mental-health-protection-resources-during-covid-19?e=7fc6ab83f0 

During these rapidly changing, unpredictable and stressful times, adapting business operations to stay viable and keeping our employees safe from COVID-19 are top of mind and demanding great attention.  What can’t be forgotten is the impact these events are having on the mental health of our employees and the potential risk for suicide related to situations like this.  Protecting the emotional well being of our teams needs to be given as a high of priority as protecting their physical health.

To help you in providing the help they need, we have created a resource page with tools and information to build the protective factors into your COVID-19 response plans that will help protect your employee’s mental health.  As more become available we will post them, so please check back often.  And, please share these resources with others to help ensure protection of the entire workforce.

If you have not already taken the pledge to STAND up for Suicide Prevention, there is no better time than now to declare your commitment to full worker safety.   Taking the pledge not only demonstrates your support but ensures you will continue to receive updates and resources as a CIASP stakeholder.

Wishing you health and safety.

Construction Industry Alliance for Suicide Prevention
191 Clarksville Road
Princeton Junction, NJ 08550
info@preventconstructionsuicide.com
609-799-4900

In response to questions from those in the construction industry, CPWR has developed guidance on COVID-19 as well as a webpage with relevant resources on the coronavirus. Both will be updated regularly as we learn more.