Ideas for Construction Safety Meeting Topics

One in five workplace deaths is in the construction industry. Accidents happen – and in the construction industry, they happen quite often.

Construction safety meetings are more than just a box to check. They’re a strategic investment in the wellbeing of your workforce. The key is getting workers involved in safety topics that truly matter.

Here are a few construction safety meeting topics to consider for your next big safety meeting. You never know – one of those meetings may save someone’s life.

Biggest Job Site Hazards

What better way to start your safety meeting than by talking about your biggest job site hazards? This allows you to start a conversation about the biggest hazards your workers face on a day-to-day basis and what they can do to mitigate the risks.

Granted, construction is one of the most dangerous industries in the U.S. Your workers can face a dozen hazards before lunch.

If you need somewhere to get started, focus on construction’s Fatal Four – the four most common causes of fatal accidents on construction sites, which together account for more than half of all construction worker deaths. They are:

1. Falls (33.5% of worker deaths)
2. Struck by object (11.1% of worker deaths)
3. Electrocutions (8.5% of worker deaths)
4. Caught-in/between (5.5% of worker deaths)

Take the time to explain how these hazards arise and what workers can do to prevent them.

Responsibility for Safety

It’s not enough simply to talk about hazards. You also have to talk about who is responsible for addressing and preventing hazards – especially because, in the construction industry, the perception of responsibility is often skewed.

Under the OSH Act, employers have a responsibility to ensure the safety of their employees at their workplaces. Seems simple enough, right? There’s just one problem: at a construction site, you’ll often have multiple companies working on different parts of the same project, with workers completing their tasks side-by-side with colleagues who don’t actually work for the same company.

At that point, it’s unrealistic to draw hard dividing lines between one company’s responsibility for X employee versus Y employee. When workers are so intermingled, everyone has an equal responsibility for safety.

Safety Improvement Plans

To that end, it can also be useful to get workers involved in a discussion of safety improvement plans.

The best way to do this is to create a worker-led meeting. Talk about the aspects of safety that they think are most important, based on their day-to-day experiences on the job site. Ask where they think improvements are needed – and what they would suggest to improve safety.

These meetings are also useful because they help bolster employee engagement and morale. It gives employees the sense that you’re actually listening to their concerns (just make sure to follow through on their suggestions ASAP).

Need More Construction Safety Meeting Topics?

Unfortunately, when the risks are so high, the work of safety professionals never ends. Especially in construction.

If you need more construction safety meeting topics to start constructive conversations, make sure to check out our blog for more great posts, like this one on concrete construction safety for workers.