It's In Our Hands - Safety Week 2017

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Apr 24, 2017, 14:30 ET

Kickoff events planned for three locations May 1-5

CHICAGO, JACKSONVILLE, Fla., LOS ANGELES, and TORONTO, April 24, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Our communities come to life through the hands of construction crews. Men and women spend hours making the places we live, work and play better. On May 1-5 we are celebrating their work and our shared commitment to jobsite safety as part of Safety Week, an industry-wide education and awareness event.

Team members from Gilbane Construction give a “thumbs up” for safety. Construction crews across the U.S. and Canada will be celebrating Safety Week May 1-5 with the theme “It’s in our hands.” (PRNewsfoto/Construction Safety Week)

During Safety Week, construction companies will take the opportunity to thank their employees for their dedication to safety and work to educate, inspire and share best practices. Many companies will conduct on-site safety awareness activities.

"This week is about the men and women who step on jobsites every day," said Matthew Walsh, co-chairman, The Walsh Group and 2017 Safety Week co-chair. "Safety Week is a chance to celebrate our workers' ongoing commitment to safety, and demonstrate the daily habits we need to take to remain safe."

The theme for Safety Week 2017 is "It's in Our Hands" – signifying the personal stake each worker has in safety. The theme also puts a focus on hand safety – particularly relevant considering hand injuries are second only to back strains as a cause for missed work days, according to government agencies in the U.S. and Canada.

"We want to make safety personal," said Ross Myers, CEO and chairman of Allan Myers Incorporated and Safety Week co-chair. "It's not about numbers, following rules or complying with regulations. It's about empowering everyone — from the CEO to the craft worker — to recognize the responsibility each of us has to ensure a safe work environment."

To symbolize this year's theme, workers will leave handprints on commitment boards to show the individual obligation each employee has to maintain a safe work environment. Three organizations in the U.S. and Canada will host ceremonial events to showcase the industry-wide focus on safety.

Safety Week events are planned for:

The Florida Department of Transportation: An event is planned for the I-295 Express Lanes project in Jacksonville on Thursday, May 4, 10 a.m. FDOT manages more than 122,000 highway miles, 20 airports, 31 urban transit systems, 15 seaports, a 2,895-mile railway corridor and two spaceports.
Ontario, Canada in partnership with Infrastructure Ontario: Monday, May, 1, 9 a.m.: A Safety Week kick-off breakfast at Etobicoke General Hospital. May 3, Noon: Safety Week lunch at Credit Valley Hospital. Infrastructure Ontario (IO) is a Crown agency owned by the Province of Ontario that provides a wide range of services to support the Ontario government's initiatives to modernize and maximize the value of public infrastructure and real estate.
L.A. Metro, Los Angeles: Thursday, April 27, 1 p.m.: Press conference immediately following board meeting at Union Station. Additional events (NOTE: These are not open to the media): May 1, 7 a.m., Crenshaw/LAX Transit Project, Martin Luther King Station; May 4, 10 a.m., Purple Line Extension, LaBrea Construction Staging Yard. L.A. Metro serves as transportation planner and coordinator, designer, builder and operator for one of the country's largest, most populous counties.

At these events, guest speakers and executives will speak about the status of their projects and the unifying nature of safety. Additionally, Safety Week activations will be held at many other job sites across the country.

About Safety Week
Safety Week is dedicated to raising the awareness of the construction industry's continuing commitment to eliminating worker injury, and to clearly communicate its dedication to a shared culture of care and concern and the belief that every week must be Safety Week.

Safety Week is sponsored by members of The Construction Industry Safety Initiative (CISI) and the Incident & Injury Free Executive Forum (IIF). Additional support comes from the Alliance Partners, many of which are non-profit associations. For more information, visit www.constructionsafetyweek.com

SOURCE Construction Safety Week