Construction Workers Say Safety Takes a Back Seat to Productivity

05.04.2017
HR & Safety

A  National Safety Council survey found 58% of Americans working in construction, the industry that sees the most workplace fatalities each year, feel that safety takes a back seat to productivity and completing job tasks.
What’s more, 51% say management does only the minimum required by law to keep employees safe, and 47% say employees are afraid to report safety issues.
By contrast, 36% of the 2,000 full-time and part-time employees in the 14 industries surveyed by NSC feel their employers prioritize productivity over safety.
A total of 4,836 people died in workplace incidents in 2015, and 937 of those killed were construction workers, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Falls are the second leading cause of death in the workplace, and more than half of fall-related deaths each year occur in the construction industry, according to Injury Facts® 2017.
Gauging Americans’ perceptions toward their safety at work may help provide further insight into workplace deaths.
Other key findings from workers across all industries include:

  • 32% feel management ignores a person’s safety performance when determining promotions
  • 62% say everyone is involved in solving job safety issues
  • 63% of employees feel they work in areas or at stations that are set up ergonomically correct
  • 48% of employees believe safety meetings are held less often than they should be
  • 47% believe performance standards are higher for job tasks than for safety; this percentage is higher among construction industry workers, where 67% feel this way
  • 33% of employees working in transportation and warehousing do not agree that management has a written policy that expresses their attitude about employee safety
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