We're all in it together

By Don Moen
Safety Director
Associated Builders and Contractors of Wisconsin

Many years ago, writer John Donne hit the nail on the head when he said no man is an island unto himself. As old as those words are, the message is as meaningful today as it was when it was written.

We live together and we work together. Construction workers are involved with people around them, affected by their accomplishments and marked by their failures. If a construction worker fails the person beside him or her, they fail themselves, too.

One of the most disturbing aspects of an accident is when a person realizes that because of his own failure someone else was injured. It isn't easy to live with that feeling. By the same token, it isn't easy for one to live with the feeling that someone else has failed them.

Safety is something we shouldn't have to "sell." However, we continually sell safety because people keep getting hurt. Thus, if enough of us talk about safety long enough, we're going to get more "buyers." When we do, accidents will drop.

Increases on your part in promoting safe practices will lessen the number of failures caused by the untrained, the unskilled and the gamblers who accept risk unnecessarily. It is believed that accidents are conceived in improper attitudes and born in moments of action without thought. They will cease only when proper attitude is strong enough to prevent the act - when the right attitude creates awareness that controls the act.

More than 99 percent of workplace accidents are caused by human acts or workplace hazards, which are caused by human error. This only leaves 1 percent of workplace accidents that can be blamed on acts of nature. In an economy where finding good workers is hard, you cannot afford to lose one worker to injury. By implementing a safety program, you will have set in place the foundation to eliminate workplace injuries, thus increasing productivity and saving money.

The most fundamental element of any safety program is communication to your crew through toolbox talks. Whether you have them once a day or once a week, a 15-minute toolbox talk can be a valuable asset to preventing accidents.

You should choose toolbox talks that are timely topics for the season or phase of the project. Gear your talks to safety problems you are having at the moment or that you anticipate in the upcoming weeks. Other topic ideas may include a review of recent injuries or accidents and a discussion of the what, when, where, how and why of the incident.

A few tips to keeping your toolbox talks effective are to have an agenda, limit the length of your presentation, keep it informal and always invite participation from others.

Safety training is an investment in your future. By investing time today into simple safety precautions, you will save money tomorrow in other places, such as workers' compensation and the direct and indirect costs of an accident.

Review your safety program. Review your accident history to see where you are having problems. If you don't know where to get started, or don't think you have the time to start, give your Associated Builders and Contractors office a call. We can help you start your program, or assist you in improving what you already have.

The ABC understands that for a contractor, there really is no issue more important than job-site safety. That is why ABC takes this message to the field by training more than 3,500 individuals annually and conducting more than 300 different safety training classes.

The hard work has paid off, and we would like to congratulate the 15 members of ABC's Safety Committee for bringing home the ABC National Award of Excellence in Safety and Health for the second year in a row. ABC of Wisconsin is continually being recognized as the state's source for safety.