Worker Safety: Investing in Training, Aiming for Zero Lives Lost

In New Jersey in 2013 (the most recent year for recorded data), 102 workers lost their lives in workplace incidents. Of those, 15 were in construction, the same rate as the year before. It’s 15 too many, and construction remains one of the most dangerous occupations in America and in the state.

The contractor members of the Associated Construction Contractors of New Jersey and the union craftworkers they employ recognize the danger. The contractors spend millions of dollars every year on safety training. Their employees spend thousands of hours every year in safety classes and on-the-job safety review.

"The number one focus of our contractor members is safety," stated Jack Kocsis, Jr., chief executive officer of ACCNJ. "No amount of training and review is too much. Our contractors want every single worker on every single jobsite to go home safe to their families every single night."

On Wednesday, April 20, 2016, ACCNJ, its member companies and labor partners will join forces for a special, coordinated emphasis on safety at New Jersey construction sites across the state. The goals are two-fold:

• Raise public awareness of the dangers that exist for construction workers as they build roads and structures
• Refocus the attention of workers on the key elements of staying safe while on the job

Safety Day 2016, featuring comprehensive training demonstrations involving hundreds of union construction craftworkers, will place particular emphasis on the four leading causes of injury and fatality on jobsites, as determined by OSHA: falls, struck-bys, electrocutions and caught-in/betweens.

ACCNJ will also highlight the substantial investment in safety training and education made by our union contractor members and craftworkers of the basic trades construction unions (bricklayers, carpenters, ironworkers, building and heavy/highway laborers and operating engineers). Collectively, they invested more than $20 million last year in safety training and education programs. This joint effort benefited more than 12,000 workers.