Increasingly, construction leaders are recognizing that effective safety performance is not achieved through rules alone. The most resilient organizations are adopting proactive, integrated approaches that treat safety as a core business system—one that influences planning, investment decisions, workforce development and long‑term operational stability.

Rather than responding to incidents after they occur, these organizations are addressing risk earlier and more consistently by embedding safety into how work is designed, equipped and executed. This shift supports worker wellbeing while also reinforcing productivity, quality and workforce retention across the enterprise.

One framework helping guide this evolution is Milwaukee Tool’s seven pillars of safety—seven foundational focus areas designed to address common jobsite recordables while supporting a stronger, more sustainable safety culture. Informed by field research and collaboration across the trades, the framework offers leaders a structured way to move beyond reactive compliance toward prevention‑driven safety systems.

The Seven Pillars of Safety

The seven pillars—dust management, vibration and noise, ergonomics, safety technology, visibility, emissions and personal protective equipment—represent interconnected areas where leadership focus can meaningfully reduce risk. Together, they provide an organizational lens for aligning policies, equipment decisions, training and accountability around consistent safety outcomes.

Dust Management

Respirable dust remains one of the most serious long‑term health hazards on construction jobsites. Activities such as cutting, drilling, grinding and demolition generate fine particulates, including silica, that can lead to chronic respiratory disease over time.

While regulations establish baseline requirements, effective dust management requires a proactive, systems‑based approach. Strategies that prioritize containment, extraction and filtration at the source help reduce airborne exposure, improve visibility and create cleaner work environments. Addressing dust early supports worker health while enabling more consistent performance in high‑risk applications.

Vibration and Noise

Prolonged exposure to vibration and high noise levels contributes to conditions such as hand‑arm vibration syndrome, carpal tunnel syndrome and hearing loss—risks particularly prevalent in repetitive or extended‑use tasks.

Advances in vibration‑dampening designs and quieter motor technologies are helping mitigate these hazards. For contractors, addressing vibration and noise is not only about comfort, but about preserving the long‑term health and availability of skilled labor. Reducing cumulative exposure supports safer tool use and helps extend career longevity across the workforce.

Ergonomics

Musculoskeletal disorders remain among the most common and costly injuries in construction. Repetitive motion, awkward postures and poorly balanced tools place ongoing strain on the body, often resulting in lost time and shortened careers.

Modern ergonomics focuses on understanding how the body responds to work demands. Research‑driven insights into muscle activation, fatigue and joint movement are informing designs that reduce force requirements and promote more natural motion. From a leadership perspective, ergonomic improvements directly support injury reduction, operational efficiency and workforce retention.

Safety Technology

Many severe jobsite injuries stem from loss‑of‑control events such as kickbacks, bind‑ups or unintended activation. In these moments, reaction time is limited and consequences can be significant.

Integrated safety technologies help mitigate these risks by responding in real time. Systems that stop tools during unsafe conditions or require intentional activation provide an added layer of protection without disrupting productivity. When safety is built directly into equipment, it functions as a continuous safeguard rather than a separate procedural step.

Visibility

Slips, trips and falls continue to be among the most common jobsite incidents, often driven by inadequate lighting or limited visibility. Early start times, interior buildouts and congested work zones all elevate risk.

Improving visibility through better lighting, clearer work areas and high‑visibility practices supports safer navigation and stronger hazard recognition. Clear sightlines enable crews to work with greater confidence, reducing the likelihood of preventable incidents that disrupt schedules and operations.

Emissions

Gas‑powered equipment has traditionally been standard on jobsites, but it introduces exhaust emissions, increased noise and additional vibration—factors that can be especially problematic in enclosed or poorly ventilated environments.

The industry’s growing shift toward battery‑powered solutions reflects a broader emphasis on jobsite conditions and worker health. Eliminating exhaust emissions reduces respiratory risk, while quieter operation and lower vibration contribute to safer, more controlled work environments, particularly indoors.

Personal Protective Equipment

Personal protective equipment remains the final line of defense against jobsite hazards. Its effectiveness depends not only on availability, but on consistent use—something heavily influenced by comfort, fit and task suitability.

Advancements in materials and design are helping PPE better align with real‑world jobsite demands. When protective equipment is comfortable and appropriate for the work being performed, it supports consistent adoption and reinforces a culture where safety expectations are practical and achievable.

Safety as a Culture, Not a Checklist

As construction continues to evolve, so too must the way safety is defined and delivered. The most effective safety programs today are not reactive or isolated—they are structured systems built around real jobsite conditions and reinforced through leadership commitment.

The seven pillars of safety offer construction executives a practical framework for aligning safety strategy with organizational goals. By embedding safety into tools, workflows and daily decision‑making, leaders can move beyond compliance toward a more resilient, consistent approach to protecting workers and supporting long‑term business performance.

SEE ALSO: ADVANCING JOBSITE SAFETY THROUGH CULTURE, COMFORT AND WORKFORCE ENGAGEMENT

The post Advancing Jobsite Safety Through Systems-Driven Leadership first appeared on Construction Executive.

That doesn’t mean supervisors need to be counselors or clinicians. It means teaching them to communicate with empathy, recognizing barriers to recovery and helping employees stay connected throughout the healing process.

Many construction employers are already making worker safety a greater priority. A 2026 survey of U.S. executives found that 83% plan to increase investments in worker safety this year. Training supervisors to support employees through every stage of recovery is a natural extension of those efforts—and one that recognizes successful recovery depends on supporting the whole person.

Recognize What Whole-Person Recovery Looks Like

One of the most important lessons supervisors and managers can learn is that recovery involves more than healing from physical injury. Supporting employees throughout recovery means recognizing factors can influence whether an employee is ready to return to work. Many of those factors extend beyond just a medical diagnosis. The traditional view of workers’ compensation often focuses on physical injury. Has the employee had surgery? Are they attending therapy appointments? What restrictions are in place? Those questions are important, but they don’t tell the whole story.

An employee recovering from a back injury may worry about whether co-workers resent having to cover their responsibilities. Someone returning after a fall may fear getting hurt again. Another employee may struggle with the financial implications of missing work, concerns about job security or the emotional and physical demands of rehabilitation. These factors can affect motivation, engagement and confidence throughout recovery, even when the injury itself is healing as expected.

Helping managers recognize these whole-person challenges doesn’t mean asking them to become counselors or medical professionals. It means equipping them to respond with empathy, maintain open communication and connect employees with appropriate resources when needed.

That support benefits both employees and employers. Workers who feel heard are more likely to stay connected to their workplace, remain engaged in recovery and return to work with greater confidence. Maintaining that trust may also reduce misunderstandings and frustration that sometimes can lead to workers’ compensation disputes or litigation.

Teach Supervisors How to Communicate Effectively

Interactions with supervisors significantly shape injured workers’ perception of the recovery process. Unfortunately, managers are rarely trained for these conversations. Without guidance, even well-intentioned questions such as, “When are you coming back?” can inadvertently increase stress or create pressure. When employers communicate you can positively impact the injured worker. A different approach can foster trust and maintain connection. Supporting the whole person starts with conversations that acknowledge the employee’s experiences and concerns—not just their medical restrictions.

Encourage supervisors to check in regularly and ask open-ended questions that demonstrate genuine concern. Examples include:

• How are you doing overall?
• What concerns do you have about returning to work?
• Is there anything about the recovery process that’s been particularly challenging?
• What questions do you have about what to expect moving forward?
• How can we support you during this transition?

What matters most in these conversations is consistency and authenticity.

Maintaining regular contact reinforces the employee is a valued member of the team. That sense of belonging may reduce feelings of isolation during an extended absence and help employees stay engaged throughout recovery.

Help Employees Navigate the Process

Recovery can become more difficult when employees are unsure about what comes next. Questions about appointments, paperwork, wage replacement and return-to-work expectations can add unnecessary stress during an already challenging time.

Training HR professionals and frontline leaders to explain the process clearly can alleviate some of that anxiety. Employees should have a clear understanding of what steps come next, who they can contact for questions and resource information available throughout recovery. Even simple explanations about modified-duty opportunities or anticipated timelines can help injured workers feel more informed, supported and confident about returning to work.

Partner With Insurers Early

Supporting the whole person may require resources that extend beyond medical treatment alone. This is where a good relationship with your workers’ compensation insurer is important—your company doesn’t have to navigate this alone. Workers’ compensation insurers can provide services that help address barriers to recovery while supporting successful outcomes. Employers should understand what services their insurer offers and how employees can access them promptly. Sentry, for example, uses data analytics to identify psychosocial factors that may complicate recovery. These factors can include fear of reinjury, prolonged pain concerns or other challenges that warrant additional support.

Early intervention may involve connecting employees with counseling resources, specialized pain management approaches or clinical programs tailored to their individual recovery needs. In some cases, innovative therapies such as virtual-reality-based treatment may complement more traditional recovery methods.

The objective is to help injured workers receive the right support at the right time so they can recover with confidence and successfully return to work.

Prepare Leaders to Support Return-to-Work Efforts

Returning to work is often viewed as the end of recovery. In reality, it’s another important phase of the process—and one that reflects how well employees have been supported throughout their journey. Construction employers can prepare supervisors to facilitate successful transitions back to the jobsite by developing clear return-to-work procedures and identifying opportunities for modified duties when appropriate.

Temporary adjustments may allow employees to contribute productively while continuing to heal. Just as importantly, returning to work can restore routine, rebuild confidence and reconnect employees with colleagues.

Training should address practical considerations such as understanding work restrictions, monitoring progress and maintaining communication throughout the transition period. It should also emphasize flexibility. Recovery trajectories differ from one employee to another, and supervisors may need to adapt accordingly.

Supporting employees through this stage reinforces that the organization values both their contributions and their long-term wellbeing.

A Shared Responsibility

Construction companies have long recognized the importance of training employees on injury prevention training. Preparing leaders to support employees after an injury deserves the same level of attention.

Helping injured employees return to work begins with recognizing that recovery is about more than healing a physical injury. Supervisors, project leaders and HR professionals all play a vital role in helping employees navigate recovery and return to work with confidence.

Leaders equipped to support the whole person can improve return-to-work outcomes, strengthen employee trust and reinforce the kind of workplace where people feel valued before, during and after an injury.

SEE ALSO: ONLY 20% OF CONSTRUCTION WORKERS REPORT INJURIES LINKED TO MENTAL DISTRESS

The post How Construction Leaders Can Train Supervisors to Support Sustained Recovery of Injured Workers first appeared on Construction Executive.

Complying with federal, state, local or industry-specific safety regulations is important, and ensuring your jobsite meets all minimum requirements can help prevent tragedies. However, basic compliance does not guarantee worker safety. Companies must constantly be at the cutting-edge of technology and industry consensus in order to provide their workers with the best chance of avoiding injury or fatality from falls.

Some recent updates to the OSHA Fall Protection code and ANSI Z359 Fall Protection standards have taken effect and will impact many construction companies. Hopefully, these updates will help employers provide more robust fall protection for their workers and encourage safer work practices in the field. This article will briefly overview basic fall protection requirements and then discuss these recent updates, their potential impact on employers and how construction companies can remain proactive to prevent falls and ultimately save lives.

Basic OSHA Fall Protection Requirements

According to federal OSHA 1926, construction companies are required to provide some form of fall protection to any worker exposed to a fall hazard of six feet or greater. OSHA deems guardrail, safety netting and personal fall protection systems as equally acceptable forms of fall protection, so it is up to the employer to decide the most effective, applicable or appropriate fall protection method for the specific fall hazard.

Fall Protection User Training Requirements

Each company must also designate a competent person who holds a current certification from an ANSI-accredited training program. The competent person will be responsible for authorizing and training employees, routinely inspecting the site for new fall hazards to mitigate and maintaining the entire fall protection program. As long as employees receive official certification from a third-party trainer like Diversified Fall Protection or another fall protection manufacturer, the employer can designate as many employees as they would prefer. Since it requires a competent person to make any changes or additions to the fall protection equipment being provided to employees, companies with multiple jobsites are recommended to have multiple competent persons within their organization.

Additionally, employees are not permitted to use fall protection equipment until their employer conducts authorized user training and the competent person officially authorizes the worker to utilize the provided fall protection equipment. Even if an individual was authorized by a former employer to use fall protection equipment, their new employer must still provide basic fall protection training to authorize the worker for at-height work.

Fixed Ladder Update

As of 2018, OSHA requires all permanent, fixed ladders 24 feet or greater to include ladder safety systems. There are many compliant options available on the market, but the most common systems provide a cable or rail channel that has a shuttle connected to the chest D-ring of the climber’s body harness. This shuttle can help arrest falls right when they happen, so users who slip from their ladder don’t fall all the way to the ground below.

For ladders installed before 2018, OSHA currently has a deadline set for November 2036 for all affected ladders to be retrofitted with a ladder safety system. In fact, this retrofit is required for any eligible ladder at the moment of repair, maintenance or replacement.

However, in recent months, OSHA has floated the idea of lifting the 2036 deadline for businesses, so ladders would only have to be retrofit at the end of their service life. Some businesses are grateful for the extra time to become compliant, but many people in the safety community fear this will only further delay the installation of life-saving equipment on ladders. There is no safe height to fall from a ladder—the majority of ladder deaths occur under 10 feet. The longer we wait to make fixed ladders safer, the more workers will be injured (or worse) in the meantime.

ANSI Z359.14-2021 Update for Self-Retracting Lifelines

One of the most recent updates affecting fall protection users concerns self-retracting lifelines (SRLs). In August 2023, ANSI Z359.14-2021 took effect which made fall protection manufacturers reclassify SRL devices. Historically, they were differentiated into Class A and Class B. Class A devices were rated for a stopping distance of approximately 24 inches and kept fall forces under 1,350 lbs, while Class B devices were rated for a stopping distance of approximately 52 inches and kept fall forces under 900 lbs. But when it came to foot-level anchors or working around sharp edges, determining which devices were compliant was more difficult.

The recent update now reclassifies SRLs as either Class 1 or Class 2. Stopping distance and fall force rates are still relevant, but are no longer being used to differentiate the two types of devices. Class 1 SRLs are designed to connect to an anchorage at or above the user’s dorsal D-ring. Class 2 SRLs are designed to connect to those anchorage points, as well as anchors installed up to five feet below the user’s dorsal D-ring (AKA foot-level anchors). This differentiation was necessary because leading-edge falls were causing equipment failures, resulting in worker injury or fatality in many cases. Class 2 SRLs are rated to withstand the additional fall forces a worker experiences during a fall while connected to a foot-level anchor, thanks to the additional shock pack integrated into the system.

Some people find it helpful to remember that Class 1 SRLs have one option for tie-off (anything at or above the dorsal D-ring), and Class 2 SRLs have two options for tie-off (at or above the dorsal D-ring, and also anything at or above foot-level). Many construction sites have opted for caution and begun assigning Class 2 SRLs to field workers so they will be protected regardless of where their provided anchor is located.

Fall protection requirements have led OSHA’s Top 10 Most Cited Violations list for the past 15 years. Furthermore, ladder, scaffold and fall protection training requirements take up three other spots on the Top 10 list. When businesses and construction companies nationwide struggle to meet basic OSHA safety requirements, worker safety is compromised. In the current state, falls are one of the most common workplace injuries, and numbers have only increased in recent years.

Often, construction workers face limited options for installing anchors on jobsites, and that can significantly affect the range of options available to provide certain fall protection systems to workers. Collaboration among general contractors, fall protection providers and their end users can help advance efforts to create safer construction sites and integrate this equipment from the beginning of the build. The sooner fall protection is provided to workers, the better chance we have at preventing falls. The more falls are prevented, the more tragedies are avoided.

SEE ALSO: HOW TO GUARD YOUR CONSTRUCTION WORKFORCE AGAINST FALLS

The post Fall Protection Equipment Updates and How They Might Affect Your Construction Company first appeared on Construction Executive.

This unique dynamic creates an environment where construction activities are happening adjacent to sensitive testing and treatment, a complex setting where disruptions can have serious consequences. Skanska continues to successfully navigate these challenges across multiple sectors, including from occupied lab space at the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality’s (NCDEQ) Reedy Creek Laboratory in Raleigh to hospital corridors alongside staff and patients in various hospital locations across the country.

While laboratories and hospitals are inherently different, the approach behind renovating these facilities without disrupting regular operations is quite similar. The secret sauce: strong communication with the customer, alongside careful planning and strategic scheduling that keep disturbances to an absolute minimum.

Construction in Phases

Splitting construction into phases is critical: It allows upgrades to be carried out in predetermined spaces, while maintaining the majority of the customer’s standard operations. This strategy is implemented with a detailed schedule that establishes the framework for the duration of critical activities in each specific phase, guaranteeing the customer is informed about every step in the process. Each phase is sequenced deliberately and intentionally, such that work generating the most noise, dust or disruption is clustered together and scheduled when it will have the least impact on surrounding operations, so that no single moment in the project catches the customer off guard.

Navigating Disruptions

While assembling a thoughtfully crafted plan to renovate an active facility is difficult in itself, the real challenge begins when crews step into the occupied space to start construction activities. Isolating the activities with barriers  is crucial to maintaining operations and reducing the impact of noise and vibrations.

Skanska has extensive experience working within active hospitals nationwide. Protecting patients, staff and ongoing operations is always a priority. Construction activity is carefully isolated from treatment rooms, laboratories and corridors through temporary partition walls and negative air pressure environments that keep dust and debris within the construction zone. This is instrumental for patients to receive uninterrupted treatment and testing progresses as usual.

At NCDEQ, the firm utilized vibration monitors on sensitive equipment to ensure construction activities had no adverse effects. In addition, while noisier actions and complex electrical work were completed on weekends or outside of typical working hours.

Maintaining Critical Infrastructure and Technical Systems

Occupied facility renovations demand meticulous attention to air quality, power continuity and specialized infrastructure. Air quality is particularly crucial in healthcare facilities and laboratories, where airborne contaminants from construction could compromise patient health or experimental integrity. In instances such as this, advanced filtration systems and carefully sealed containment barriers can be used to ensure particulates and fumes stay confined to construction areas—a standard that goes beyond typical jobsite practice.

While air quality is a major concern, the presence of construction chemicals in a laboratory space pose a similar threat to ongoing research. Skanska held extensive discussions with the NCDEQ to identify and review the chemical makeup of proposed construction materials, verifying these chemicals would not impact ongoing testing. Knowing exactly what compounds were present in the lab determined which adhesives, coatings and construction materials could safely be used in proximity to active research.

Maintaining power during construction is perhaps the most important when working on an occupied facility. Healthcare and research facilities depend on uninterrupted electrical service for everything from life-support equipment in hospitals to climate-controlled sample storage in laboratories. While upgrading electrical systems at NCDEQ, Skanska used temporary panels, circuits and mechanical connections to sustain power for lab technicians as work progressed, ensuring that at no point during the electrical upgrade did researchers lose power to the equipment they depended on.

In addition to electrical upgrades, Skanska’s work at operating facilities throughout the country include the replacement of the entire mechanical, electrical and plumbing infrastructure; these sophisticated overhauls require careful tracing of the existing MEP systems to confirm there is no interference while preserving service throughout the facility’s active and occupied spaces.

Keeping Crews and Occupants Safe

The importance of safe construction practices is always paramount; however, safety is further heightened when working in active facilities. The construction site is no longer an isolated zone but a shared space where construction workers, facility staff, patients or researchers may all be present simultaneously. Managing that reality means more than posting signage—it requires construction teams and facility staff to operate as a single coordinated unit, with clear protocols for who goes where, when and why. Comprehensive safety measures include creating clearly marked construction zones, establishing controlled access points and exits, implementing strict material handling procedures and maintaining constant communication between construction teams and facility management.

Building For Tomorrow, Operating Today

Renovating active healthcare and laboratory facilities is entirely achievable with the right combination of strategic planning, technical expertise, and collaborative communication. Skanska has proven that success relies on a phased construction approach, rigorous safety protocols, earned trust and a commitment to minimizing disruption to the essential operations within these spaces.

The work performed at NCDEQ and various research and hospital locations throughout the country doesn’t just provide modernized facilities, it demonstrates that with enough planning, transparency and technical discipline, construction and critical customer operations can share the same space without either one giving ground. As the demand for modernized healthcare and research infrastructure continues to grow, projects like these will serve as a blueprint for how the construction industry can address that need without completely shutting down critical operations.

SEE ALSO: INSIDE CONSTRUCTION’S HIGHEST-PERFORMING PROJECTS

The post Building the Research and Healthcare Facilities of Tomorrow Without Impacting the Progress of Today first appeared on Construction Executive.

But beyond recognizing exceptional work, the data behind these projects may also offer a roadmap for delivering better outcomes across the broader construction industry.

Can the performance metrics from award-winning projects help owners, designers and contractors make decisions that lead to safer jobsites, stronger budget performance and more predictable schedules? According to ABC’s growing EIC data set, the answer appears to be yes.

Over the past several years, ABC has enhanced and automated the EIC application process, enabling the organization to capture and analyze detailed project-performance data across hundreds of projects nationwide. The findings reveal several clear trends among top-performing projects: value-based procurement dominated over low bid selection; preconstruction services consistently improved schedule reliability; and contractors investing in technology and early collaboration often delivered stronger safety and budget outcomes.

The 2025 EIC portfolio—recognized at ABC Convention 2026 in Salt Lake City—provides one of the clearest pictures yet of what project excellence looks like in practice.

The portfolio includes 341 national-level projects totaling $15.09 billion in construction value, representing 38 million work hours, 48 million square feet of construction and 3.6 million acres of developed land. The projects span every major market sector, including data centers, healthcare, multifamily, petrochemical, institutional, renewable energy and aviation.

Collectively, the projects achieved a total recordable incident rate of 0.68—70% below the 2025 industry average TRIR of 2.3. Ninety-eight percent finished within the final contract budget despite collectively overcoming 2,647 days of delays. Across the portfolio, contractors deployed a wide range of technologies, including robotics, telematics, drones, virtual reality and artificial intelligence.

The data also challenges several longstanding assumptions about high-performing construction projects. While many EIC projects exceed $100 million in value, nearly 200 are valued below $20 million, suggesting the practices driving excellence are not limited by project size. The portfolio also demonstrates that merit shop contractors are successfully delivering large-scale, technically complex projects while achieving industry-leading safety performance.

Taken together, the portfolio significantly outperformed broader industry benchmarks in safety, budget reliability and schedule management—raising an important question: What were these projects doing differently?

The data points to several leading indicators that consistently show up in award-winning construction.

THE VALUE OF EARLY ENGAGEMENT

Project success begins with procurement strategy and the services purchased during project development.

All procurement methods were represented across both general and specialty contracting. However, 60% of projects were procured primarily on value- or qualification-based selection, while 40% were procured primarily on price. Of the price-based projects, half were awarded through select bidding processes involving prequalified contractors.

While much of the broader construction market still relies heavily on price-driven procurement, EIC projects skewed strongly toward qualification- and value-based selection (encompassing both the “value-based” and “solely negotiated” designations in the preceding and above infographics).

Every market sector selected contractors primarily on qualification at least 50% of the time. The high-tech/data center sector and renewable energy sector relied most heavily on qualification-based procurement, at 74% and 75%, respectively.

“Owners are increasingly seeing that selecting a construction partner based on best value, not just low price, leads to savings overall,” says Buddy Henley, president of Gaithersburg, Maryland-based Henley Construction. “Having a trusted partner engaged during design allows risks to be identified earlier and problems to be solved before they become costly. That early collaboration improves cost certainty, supports smoother schedules and significantly reduces surprises in the field.”

Government projects relied most heavily on open hard bid or price-based procurement, using that method 27% of the time. By contrast, the high-tech/data center market procured just 15% of projects through open hard bid.

Among general contractors, 74% were selected primarily on a qualification basis. Nearly one-quarter of those projects were solely negotiated, and those projects represented the highest average contract value at approximately $101 million.

“The most successful projects are the ones that bring the design team and construction manager together at the very beginning. Early collaboration improves constructability, clarifies scopes for the trades, and reduces gaps that create risk,” Henley says. “That early alignment leads to better budget predictability and stronger trade relationships, which directly supports safer and more successful projects.

When owners focus on value-based procurement instead of low bid alone, the outcomes are consistently stronger. Choosing teams based on experience, collaboration and the value they bring creates real partnership across the project. We see better cost control, higher-quality results and safer jobsites when the right team is selected from the start.”

Lorri Grayson, partner and founder of Rehoboth, Delaware-based GGA Construction, echoes Henley’s sentiments. “Early involvement creates an atmosphere of strong collaboration among project stakeholders. It enables the project team to define the scope of work, identify long lead items and, most importantly, control costs from the earliest stages,” she says.

“It also helps develop a bid strategy that responds to current market conditions. For example, early involvement on our current project, The Continental, located at the University of Delaware, saved the owner over $5 million on a $90-million project,” Grayson says. “Early coordination allowed us to identify critical procurement needs and minimize budget risks, resulting in a more efficient and cost-effective process.”

That emphasis on early collaboration and value-driven procurement was reflected throughout the EIC portfolio data. Just 18% of general contractor projects were procured through open hard bid, and those projects represented the lowest average contract value at approximately $15 million.

The owner perspective also supports early contractor involvement.

“Successful projects are built on strong partnerships rooted in trust, transparency and psychological safety—where titles are set aside and teams feel comfortable speaking openly to solve problems together,” says Spencer Moore, vice president and chief facilities officer for globally renowned cancer center UT MD Anderson. “Early collaboration creates that foundation, allowing teams to address challenges with humility and ownership before moving toward solutions.”

That same emphasis on qualifications, collaboration and long-term value also appeared in how specialty contractors were selected across the EIC portfolio. Specialty contractors were procured primarily on qualification 46% of the time, while 31% were selected through select bid and 24% through open hard bid. Contract value did not appear to significantly influence procurement methodology for specialty trades.

One of the more surprising findings in the data was that procurement strategy did not necessarily dictate contract structure. Regardless of how projects were awarded—whether through qualification-based selection, negotiated work or open bid—top-performing projects utilized virtually every form of contracting across the portfolio.

One notable distinction emerged between general and specialty contractors: Lump-sum contracting overwhelmingly dominated among specialty contractors regardless of procurement method.

THE PRECON ADVANTAGE

Across all market sectors, preconstruction services were provided on 74% of projects—well above what many contractors would consider typical across the broader marketplace. General contractors delivered preconstruction services on 73% of projects, while specialty contractors did so on 75%.

“Early involvement allows specialty contractors to contribute practical, experience-based insight before key decisions are locked in. When we’re engaged during preconstruction, we can identify coordination challenges early, help refine scope and sequencing, and offer practical yet innovative solutions to tough problems–reducing rework,” says Matt Terry, president of Dallas-based mechanical contractor TDIndustries. “That upfront collaboration directly improves schedule reliability, cost certainty and overall project performance.”

Steve Grauer, executive vice president for Hensel Phelps, agrees. “In my experience, the best outcomes to project success on complex projects are rooted in project teams that exemplify a high level of trust, practice transparency, have accountability, truly collaborate, and have a high level of executive commitment and engagement in the project and where there is open communication by all the stakeholders,” he says. “These traits are best embedded when project teams have some type of early engagement, giving them an opportunity to work collaboratively to resolve early challenges and work to build personal relationships prior to the start of construction.”

Notably, no preconstruction services were provided on 51% of projects procured through open hard bid.

While preconstruction services were utilized across all procurement methods and contract structures, the combination of open hard bid procurement and lump-sum contracting most frequently resulted in projects without preconstruction involvement.

Twenty-six percent of all EIC projects did not utilize preconstruction services, and 75% of those projects followed the open hard bid/lump-sum model.

FROM PLANNING TO PERFORMANCE

At a time when the construction industry continues to battle cost escalation, labor shortages and schedule disruption, EIC projects significantly outperformed broader industry benchmarks in safety, budget reliability and schedule management. The EIC portfolio overcame more than seven years of cumulative delays, delivering 98% of projects within budget and achieving a TRIR of 0.68.

The next question? Whether procurement methods, contract structures or preconstruction services contributed to those outcomes.

When comparing planned project duration to actual construction duration—including delay recovery—projects utilizing preconstruction services demonstrated stronger performance.

Projects with preconstruction services showed slightly better schedule outcomes overall. Fifty-two percent achieved shorter actual durations compared to projects without preconstruction services.

More importantly, projects with contractor involvement during preconstruction overcame more delay days and exhibited lower schedule variation.

Projects without preconstruction services experienced a 14% variance between planned and actual construction duration, including delays.

The same trend appeared across contract structures. Lump-sum contracts—which included preconstruction services on only 47% of projects—experienced an 11% variance between planned and actual duration. Construction manager-at-risk projects, where preconstruction services were included on 96% of projects, experienced only a 1% variance.

The trend became even more pronounced among general contractors. Design-build and CMAR delivery methods significantly reduced schedule duration variance compared to lump-sum and time-and-materials contracts. This aligns with the fact that design-build and CMAR projects incorporated preconstruction services on 90% and 96% of projects, respectively.

“The biggest gains we see come under the construction-manager-at-risk approach. Early cost validation during design helps identify savings without sacrificing quality,” explains Henley. “Clarifying scopes and resolving issues early reduces financial risk and improves safety across all trade partners.”

Among specialty contractors, preconstruction services also reduced schedule variation regardless of procurement method or contract type. Projects without preconstruction services experienced a 25% schedule variance. When specialty contractors participated in preconstruction, that variance was reduced by at least half.

Although 98% of EIC projects finished within the customer’s final approved budget, variation still existed between original and final contract values through approved change orders.

Projects utilizing CMAR and design-build delivery methods experienced lower budget variation than lump-sum and time-and-materials contracts, suggesting fewer scope changes and change orders over the course of construction.

No significant correlation emerged between procurement method, contract type and safety performance, with one exception: time-and-materials projects recorded an exceptionally low TRIR of 0.04.

Time-and-materials contracting was most common in industrial, infrastructure and renewable energy markets.

CONSTRUCTION TECHNOLOGY

Technology adoption continues to expand across the construction industry.

• The four most commonly used technologies during the past three years remained consistent:
• Project-management platforms
• Safety workflow technologies
• Drones
• Jobsite security technologies

TECHNOLOGY MOVES TO THE CENTER

Just three years ago, artificial intelligence was virtually absent from EIC projects. Today, 18% of projects report using AI technologies.

Importantly, no major technology category has declined in usage over the past three years, suggesting contractors continue to realize measurable return on investment.

Technology deployment also spanned all contract types and project sizes.

Construction technologies were utilized across projects of every size category. Data indicates that technology deployment frequency remains consistent regardless of project dollar value.

“During the past three years, we have experienced unprecedented growth which we attribute to two key factors,” says Rob Griffith, chief operating officer of Gaylor Electric. “First, we are collaborating with our customers earlier in the precon process. The second—related—factor is our commitment to utilizing innovations that increase efficiency and safety for our workforce and the speed at which we deliver reliable outcomes on projects.”

Projects utilizing safety technologies consistently reported lower TRIR rates than projects without those technologies.

The trend suggests that investments in safety-focused technology are contributing to improved jobsite performance.

“Technologies like BIM, VDC, field-management platforms and real-time reporting help teams communicate more effectively and make informed decisions faster,” Terry says. “Our longstanding investments in these tools give our teams a distinct advantage when delivering high-quality results. This amounts to better productivity, safer jobsites and more predictable outcomes for owners.”

WHAT THE INDUSTRY CAN LEARN

Companies qualifying for EIC awards should take pride in their performance. The data confirms that ABC’s EIC-awarded projects significantly outperform industry averages across safety, budget and schedule metrics.

• The analysis also reinforces several broader conclusions:
• Preconstruction services deliver measurable value
• Technology adoption is accelerating and becoming a key differentiator
• Safety leadership remains foundational to project excellence
• High-performing contractors consistently deliver quality projects regardless of procurement method or contract structure

The data also provides insights worth sharing broadly across the industry. Regardless of project size, market sector or delivery method, the conditions for excellence can be created through intentional planning, collaboration, innovation and leadership.

SEE ALSO: ABC UNVEILS AWARD-WINNING CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS, NATIONAL CONTRACTOR OF THE YEAR, SAFETY AND DIVERSITY EXCELLENCE IN THE INDUSTRY

The post Inside Construction’s Highest-Performing Projects first appeared on Construction Executive.

This evolution reflects a broader shift toward proactive, human-centered safety strategies. Rather than responding to incidents after they occur, organizations are focusing on how safety is experienced on the jobsite. Equipment choices, jobsite conditions and worker behavior all intersect to influence whether protective measures are adopted consistently and willingly. In this context, personal protective equipment plays a critical role—not just as a requirement, but as a reflection of safety culture in practice.

PPE Adoption as a Measure of Safety Culture

Personal protective equipment has long been viewed as the final line of defense against jobsite hazards. That role remains unchanged, but the way PPE is selected, designed and worn is evolving. Today, comfort, fit and usability are increasingly recognized as essential drivers of consistent PPE use.

When protective equipment is uncomfortable, restrictive or poorly suited to the task, compliance becomes inconsistent—regardless of policy. Conversely, PPE that is designed with the user in mind is more likely to be worn correctly and consistently. For construction leaders, this shift reframes PPE adoption as a cultural indicator: It reflects whether safety expectations align with the realities of the jobsite.

Advances in materials, ergonomic design and adjustability have improved how PPE supports extended wear, particularly for head and eye protection. Equipment that reduces pressure points, improves balance or enhances visibility helps remove barriers to adoption. These improvements reinforce the idea that safety is not about enforcement alone, but about enabling workers to protect themselves without compromising comfort or productivity.

The Role of Worker Input in Safety Outcomes

A strong safety culture is built on trust and engagement. One of the most effective ways to reinforce that culture is by incorporating worker feedback into safety decisions. Trades professionals are uniquely positioned to identify what works—and what doesn’t—under real jobsite conditions.

By listening to worker input, organizations gain insight into how PPE fits into daily workflows, how long it is worn, and where challenges arise. This feedback can inform equipment selection, training approaches and broader safety initiatives. When workers see their experiences reflected in safety decisions, it strengthens buy‑in and reinforces shared accountability.

Research-driven approaches, including studies of movement, fatigue and physical strain, further support this process. Understanding how the body responds to work demands helps inform designs that reduce discomfort and long-term injury risk. For leadership teams, these insights connect safety culture directly to workforce health, retention and performance over time.

Integrating PPE Into a Broader Safety System

PPE does not exist in isolation. Its effectiveness is shaped by how it integrates with tools, jobsite conditions and daily operations. Leaders who view safety as a connected system recognize that consistent PPE use is reinforced through planning, communication and example—not policy alone.

This systems-based approach includes selecting equipment that aligns with jobsite conditions, ensuring training reflects real-world use and reinforcing expectations through leadership behavior. When safety considerations are embedded into routine decisions, PPE becomes a natural part of the workflow rather than an added burden.

Environmental factors also play a role. Improvements in lighting, air quality and noise reduction contribute to safer conditions and influence how protective equipment is experienced throughout the day. Addressing these factors holistically supports better adoption and more reliable protection.

Safety Culture as a Leadership Imperative

Ultimately, safety culture is shaped from the top down and reinforced every day in the field. Leaders set the tone through the priorities they communicate, the equipment they invest in and the voices they choose to include in safety conversations. When leaders consistently demonstrate that they care about employee wellbeing, not just productivity or compliance, it reinforces trust and signals that safety is a shared value. That commitment becomes tangible in the choices organizations make.

When PPE is comfortable, usable and informed by worker input, it signals respect for the workforce and a genuine commitment to safety. Over time, these choices help build a culture where protection is expected, supported and sustained—not because it is required, but because it works.

As construction organizations continue to navigate workforce challenges and evolving jobsite demands, those that treat safety culture as a strategic priority will be better positioned to protect their teams, strengthen trust, and support long-term performance.

SEE ALSO: ADOPTING A LEADERSHIP-BASED APPROACH TO WORK ZONE SAFETY

The post Advancing Jobsite Safety Through Culture, Comfort and Worker Engagement first appeared on Construction Executive.

Most construction organizations cannot answer that question. Not because the data does not exist—it does. Every active project generates daily inspection findings, labor records, near-miss reports and audit results. The problem is that standard safety systems collect this data and then report it in ways that make it operationally useless for prevention. They describe the past. They predict nothing.

The predictive safety analytics framework (PSAF) is a practical, deployable system developed from years of applying data science to large-scale construction portfolio operations that takes the safety data construction organizations already collect and transforms it into a forward-looking risk signal. The result? A single weekly score that tells executives where risk is concentrating across their portfolio before anyone gets hurt.

WHY YOUR CURRENT SAFETY DATA IS FAILING YOU

The construction industry’s reliance on lagging indicators—TRIR, DART rates, OSHA logs—is still valid. These metrics are essential for compliance, benchmarking and insurance. But they share one structural limitation that no amount of refinement can fix: They only tell you what has already happened.

A zero-incident month is not a green light. It may mean your projects are genuinely safe. It may equally mean your teams are under-inspecting and your hazards are going unrecorded. Without an analytics layer on top of your existing data, you cannot tell the difference—and that gap is where serious injuries occur.

Leading safety researchers have demonstrated that integrating proactive safety controls alongside lagging measures measurably reduces incident rates. Yet most contractors still lack a practical system that delivers this at portfolio scale. PSAF fills that gap.

HOW PSAF WORKS: THREE PRACTICAL STEPS

PSAF builds on three ideas—each straightforward on its own, and exponentially more powerful in combination.

Step 1: Compare Projects Fairly

Raw safety numbers are misleading without context. A project recording 50 findings during a slow month with 5,000 labor hours looks identical on paper to a project recording 50 findings during an intensive month with 100,000 labor hours. They are not the same. One is under-inspected. The other is highly active and well-monitored.

PSAF adjusts every metric for actual labor intensity—so executives can compare risk accurately across projects of any size, phase or duration. This single adjustment eliminates the most common source of misleading safety reporting in construction portfolio management.

Step 2: Weight Findings by What Actually Matters

Standard audit systems count every inspection finding the same way—a housekeeping note and a life-threatening fall hazard are recorded as two equal data points. That equivalence is the single largest analytical error in conventional construction safety reporting. It buries the most dangerous signals under mountains of minor ones.

PSAF assigns escalating weights to findings based on their potential to cause harm:

The resulting score divides positive, proactive findings against severity-weighted negative findings. A month where one life-threatening condition is buried among routine citations looks dramatically different under PSAF than under a raw count—and that difference is what prevents serious injuries.

A declining score month over month is the earliest warning signal available before any recordable incident occurs.

Step 3: Track Warning Signs Before Injuries Happen

Every serious construction fatality is preceded by recognizable conditions—unprotected edges, unsupported excavations, uncontrolled energy sources or suspended loads over occupied areas. The serious injury and fatality potential (SIF-P) rate quantifies these exposures as operational data before any injury occurs.

PSAF’s specific contribution is integrating SIF-P tracking with the weighted audit score into a single combined signal. When SIF-P observations are rising at the same time the weighted audit score is declining, the combined signal identifies deteriorating site conditions weeks before they produce a recordable event—weeks that no lagging metric can provide.

In a portfolio application of PSAF, the composite model detected a correlated adverse trend—rising SIF-P observations alongside a declining Weighted Audit Score—across a six-week window. Every standard lagging metric showed satisfactory performance throughout. No incidents had occurred. Yet the integrated signal was unambiguous: Risk was concentrating in a specific area at a specific phase of construction. Targeted supervision and coaching followed. The project moved through its highest-risk period without a single recordable event. The lagging metrics confirmed safety after the fact. PSAF enabled it before.

ONE SCORE, EVERY WEEK

All three components integrate into a single composite safety analytics score—one number, updated weekly, that tells executives the safety status of every active project at a glance:

For executives managing five, 10 or 20 active projects simultaneously, this weekly composite signal replaces hours of report-reading with one clear answer: where do I need to focus right now?

When executives have this signal updated weekly, safety management changes character entirely. Teams stop asking, “What went wrong last month?” and start asking, “Where is risk building this week?” That question—asked weekly, answered with data—is the structural difference between a compliance program and a prevention program.

WHAT THIS MEANS FOR YOUR ORGANIZATION

Implementing PSAF does not require new software or additional staff. Every metric is calculable from data most mid-to-large contractors already collect through their existing inspection platforms, labor tracking systems and safety reporting tools. Four principles make the difference:

• Compare by labor intensity, not raw numbers—A busy project and a slow one cannot be evaluated the same way.
• Weight hazards by severity—Focus attention on what could cause serious harm, not what is easiest to count.
• Track warning signs before incidents—The conditions that precede serious injuries are visible in your data if you know how to look.
• Review the composite score weekly—Monthly safety reviews are compliance exercises; weekly reviews are prevention.

THE BIGGER PICTURE

PSAF demonstrates something that extends well beyond safety: Construction analytics methods—normalization, severity weighting, composite integration, threshold classification—can transform any operational data stream into portfolio-level intelligence. The same architecture applies to schedule execution reliability, quality backlog management and financial risk tracking.

The construction industry has now spent two decades investing in data-collection tools. The organizations that pull ahead in the next decade will be those that build the analytics layer on top—converting collected data into decisions, not just reports.

The data your projects generate every day already contains the warning signs you need. PSAF ensures it prevents the future instead of recording the past.

SEE ALSO: PREDICTIVE ANALYTICS AND FORECASTING IN CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS

The post Predict Risk, Not Incidents: A New Analytics Framework for Your Construction Safety Data first appeared on Construction Executive.

Workforce safety should be viewed as more than a regulatory obligation. Protecting employees is critical to operational stability, workforce retention and long-term business success. For construction leaders, work zone safety is not simply about avoiding incidents. It is about creating environments where workers can perform safely and return home at the end of the day.

Construction and roadway crews routinely work only feet away from moving traffic, heavy machinery and constantly shifting conditions. Even with proper planning and controls in place, work zones remain unpredictable environments where a single moment of distraction can result in serious consequences.

According to the National Construction Work Zone Safety report, there were an estimated 101,000 work zone crashes in 2023, the latest year statistics were available. In addition, data compiled by the U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics shows that an average of 776 people die annually in work zone-related incidents, including more than 100 roadway workers each year.

The Business Impact of Work Zone Incidents

Every work zone incident can have lasting effects on workers, their families and communities. They also have business implications. For contractors and business leaders, those incidents carry consequences far beyond the immediate scene of an accident. Workplace injuries can disrupt project timelines, impact productivity, increase operational costs and place additional strain on workforce stability.

Beyond the immediate costs associated with an incident, work zone accidents can create ripple effects across an organization. Delays caused by investigations, equipment damage, staffing shortages or project shutdowns can impact timelines and client relationships. In competitive industries where margins and schedules are closely monitored, even a single incident can create operational setbacks that extend far beyond the jobsite.

Companies that prioritize proactive safety planning are often better positioned to maintain productivity, strengthen workforce trust and reduce long-term exposure to costly claims and disruptions. These realities reinforce the importance of approaching work zone safety as an ongoing leadership responsibility rather than a checklist item. Strong safety cultures are built through proactive communication, consistent training and a visible commitment to protecting workers in dynamic environments.

Construction leaders play a major role in creating environments where safety remains the priority, even when conditions change quickly. Maintaining that focus requires consistent communication, planning and accountability across every phase of a project.

Building a Stronger Safety Culture

One of the most effective ways construction leaders can strengthen work zone safety is by building consistent safety practices into every phase of a project. Key areas of focus include:

Consistent Communication

Daily safety meetings help reinforce expectations, address changing site conditions and keep workers focused on situational awareness before entering active work areas. These conversations also create opportunities for crews to identify potential hazards and discuss concerns before incidents occur.

Tailored Training

Work zones present unique challenges that require workers to remain alert and adaptable throughout the day. Preparing employees to recognize changing traffic patterns, anticipate distracted drivers and respond to unexpected conditions can significantly reduce exposure to risk. Safety training should extend beyond regulatory requirements and focus on real-world conditions workers are likely to encounter on active roadways.

Pre-work Coordination

Pre-task planning, traffic control reviews and clear communication between contractors, supervisors and crews help reduce confusion in active work environments. When workers understand site-specific risks and expectations before entering a work zone, teams are better prepared to respond to changing conditions safely and efficiently.

Near-Miss Reporting

Near-miss reporting and ongoing safety evaluations can provide valuable insight into patterns or hazards that may otherwise go unnoticed. Creating an environment where workers feel comfortable speaking up about safety concerns helps organizations identify risks early and continuously improve jobsite practices.

Visibility Measures

Properly positioned barriers, signage and traffic control devices help create safer environments for both workers and motorists. High-visibility apparel and well-maintained traffic control measures become especially important during adverse weather conditions, nighttime operations, and periods of reduced visibility.

Preparing for External Risks

In addition to internal safety practices, construction leaders should recognize the growing impact distracted driving continues to have on roadway work zones. Mobile devices, speeding and driver inattention remain leading contributors to work zone incidents across the country. While contractors cannot control driver behavior, they can prepare crews for the reality of those risks through planning, communication and defensive safety strategies.

Building a strong work zone safety culture requires consistency from leadership. Employees are more likely to prioritize safe practices when company leaders visibly support and reinforce them. When safety conversations happen regularly and expectations remain clear across all levels of an organization, workers are empowered to make safer decisions in high-risk situations.

Construction leaders should also recognize the importance of reinforcing safe driving awareness beyond the jobsite. Employees operating company vehicles, transporting equipment or traveling between project sites face many of the same roadway risks as motorists passing through active work zones. Extending safety conversations to include defensive driving practices and situational awareness can help further reduce exposure both on and off the jobsite.

A Shared Commitment

For motorists, driving through a work zone may feel like a temporary inconvenience caused by lower speed limits, lane shifts or traffic delays. For construction crews, however, those environments represent active jobsites where focus and caution are essential. Encouraging drivers to slow down, remain alert and follow traffic signage remains an important part of protecting the workforce operating nearby.

Preventing work zone incidents ultimately requires a shared commitment between construction teams, business leaders and the public. While workers follow strict safety procedures to reduce risk, drivers also play a critical role in maintaining safe roadway environments.

As infrastructure investment and roadway improvement projects continue nationwide, construction leaders have an opportunity to reinforce safety not only as a compliance requirement, but as a core organizational value.

Companies that maintain strong safety cultures are better equipped to protect their workforce, support operational continuity and build long-term resilience in an increasingly demanding environment.

Supporting businesses and workers is directly tied to supporting thriving communities. As roadway construction activity continues nationwide, maintaining a proactive approach to work zone safety can help organizations protect their workforce, strengthen operations and create safer outcomes for everyone on the road.

SEE ALSO: TRANSFORMING WORK ZONE SAFETY THROUGH AUTOMATION

The post Adopting a Leadership-Based Approach to Work Zone Safety first appeared on Construction Executive.

When used to achieve general safety goals, such as real-time monitoring with video-based AI to detect risks, it can be a valuable tool if there are frontline supervisors available to respond to alerts. The inconsistent nature of a construction jobsite, where new problems and dangers can happen at any time, and workers often make split-second decisions to save themselves and their colleagues from injury or in some cases take unnecessary risks, makes relying on video-based AI highly impractical, and due to often very complex work conditions, prone to inaccuracies.

Here are five reasons why video-based AI has limitations in construction safety:

1. The Full Time Power That is Needed to Support Video-Based AI Isn’t Available in 90% of the Highest Hazard Construction Settings

AI is very energy consuming and in order to process video-based AI, full time power is required. Given that 90% of the work areas that are associated with the highest hazard construction work do not have full time dedicated power available, the battery-powered fixed-point camera systems that are needed in the highest risk work zones would require changing batteries frequently, which isn’t practical or even viable in some work areas.

2. Environmental Erraticism and Data Quality and Consistency

High-performing video-based AI depends on large volumes of consistent, high-quality data. Manufacturing naturally produces uniform datasets, improving model performance. In healthcare, hybrid-AI and human-intelligence approaches help ensure accuracy in complex situations.

Construction video data is often fragmented and inconsistent: Camera angles change regularly and are often far away from work activities; different weather patterns and lighting can impact clarity; obstructions are common; and high hazard work behaviors are unpredictable. These factors reduce data quality and increase the likelihood of missed or inaccurate video-based AI detections.

3. Roaming Video-Based AI Systems Such as Robots or Helmet Cams Miss 90% of the Story and Cannot Access the Highest Hazard Work Zones

As with almost any work environment, worker behaviors are heavily influenced when a manager is present. Roaming video-based AI systems inherently change worker behaviors when they are present but are unable to evaluate or impact 90% of the work activities when such roaming systems aren’t present. Fixed-point camera systems that record 100% of the work activities and which are then “smart sampled” by expert human video annotation construction specialists are much more impactful. Robotic camera systems are also unable to access the highest hazard work areas especially on the top floors of buildings as they are being constructed, and helmet-fixed camera systems are mostly worn by staff who aren’t permitted to access these highest risk work areas.

4. Unsafe Worker Behaviors Often Occur in a Just a Few Seconds Making Video-Based AI “Real-Time” Alerts Ineffective and Can Overwhelm Frontline Supervisors With Too Many Alerts, a Subset of Which Will Be Inaccurate

Many of the extremely dangerous worker behaviors in construction take place in 1-5 seconds, making real-time video-based AI alerts extremely impractical. Overwhelming a single safety professional on a construction project who oversees safety for 100+ workers with a barrage of real-time video-based AI alerts will almost never result in a worker being notified in real time of the high-risk action they just took.  Without human video annotation specialists being used to ensure that all videos sent to frontline supervisors are accurate, there are going to be many inaccurate videos sent which will quickly erode the confidence in the video data integrity.  Furthermore, “smart sampling” and sending a small subset of the overall coaching clips can drive safety performance to extremely high levels without overburdening safety professionals with too many alerts.

5. Video-Based AI Solutions Do Not Provide Construction Clients With the Consultative Video Coaching Services Needed to Truly and Significantly Impact the Safety Culture on Projects

There are countless examples over the last 50 years of frontline supervisors in many industries being overloaded with automated data streams that are often underutilized and wind up not materially improving safety, quality or productivity. Building a safety culture that can drive the 97%-100% compliance levels needed to significantly reduce the risk of workplace injuries requires a highly consultative coaching approach, which video-based AI alone cannot accomplish.

Over time, video‑based AI can contribute meaningfully to construction, but it should complement versus replace time-tested, human‑led consultative video coaching methods. Its greatest value lies in supporting human teams by:

• Providing additional visibility across sites in the small number of work areas where there is full-time power available
• Capturing rare, but potentially high-risk video-based AI events with fully powered cameras that can be reviewed first by human video annotation specialists before the video events are sent to frontline supervisors

A balanced approach of combining AI capabilities with experienced human oversight offers the most practical path forward.

While video‑based AI is often presented as a compelling solution for construction safety, its effectiveness is limited by the dynamic and unpredictable nature of jobsites. Unlike industries such as manufacturing and healthcare, construction lacks the consistency and stable power infrastructure needed for AI to perform reliably. As a result, the greatest impact will come from selectively combining video‑based AI with human video annotation specialists and proven consultative video coaching programs.

SEE ALSO: THE NEWEST MEMBER OF YOUR FACILITIES TEAM? YOUR BUILDING.

The post Five Reasons Why Total Reliance on Video-Based AI for Construction Jobsite Safety Isn’t the Answer first appeared on Construction Executive.

Worker fatigue isn’t just feeling tired. It’s the physical and mental strain often caused by long shifts, overtime, heat, repetitive tasks and inadequate recovery time that can raise injury risks due to:

• Slower reaction times 
• Decreased situational awareness 
• Impaired judgment

National safety and health agencies have conducted studies highlighting the urgency of this topic. One report found that nearly one in four construction workers regularly exceeds 40 work hours per week. Another revealed how physical fatigue can impair construction workers’ situational awareness. Wearable sensor data indicated a 12% drop in their hazard recognition and a 28% decline in safety risk assessment.

For an industry that employs one of the nation’s largest workforce segments and routinely delivers complex, high-cost, long-term projects, these statistics reveal a clear and persistent vulnerability. Fatigue is not simply an individual worker issue; it is an organizational risk that can drive OSHA recordable incidents, undermine project outcomes and diminish competitive standing.

Fatigued workers may overlook critical safety protocols or misjudge distances and loads, leading to accidents that could affect both their personal safety and that of their coworkers. Efficiency can also take a hit, as mistakes made by tired workers can drive costly rework, wasted labor and materials, schedule delays and budget overruns. And when contractors bid for work, their safety records are under the microscope; injuries tied to fatigue could cost job opportunities.

Managing Fatigue Proactively

Fatigue doesn’t happen by accident and it shouldn’t be managed reactively. It requires a proactive approach that involves implementing preemptive measures, such as robust worksite preventive health programming, into daily operations. This may require examining external factors that can contribute to worker fatigue, such as commute times, environmental conditions (e.g., extreme heat) and work schedules.

But fatigue isn’t just about long hours or extreme weather conditions. It’s also about physical capacity versus job demand. It’s hard to manage unknown fatigue risks. A pre-employment physical can help identify health factors that may contribute to fatigue. Often called a preplacement physical, this exam can help determine whether a candidate can safely perform the physical functions of a given role. This assessment isn’t designed to rule out candidates. It focuses on alignment—not exclusion—to confirm that the role matches the candidate’s capabilities.

Applying Worksite Intervention

Structured injury prevention programs can make a real difference at busy worksites. A firm managing a high-profile construction project might employ onsite occupational health professionals, such as athletic trainers, to help manage fatigue before injuries occur. Their duties may include:

• Conducting ergonomic assessments to remove inefficiencies and boost productivity 
• Coaching proper body mechanics and safe material handling to reduce strain 
• Leading preshift warmups to improve flexibility and comfort

An onsite occupational health model could feature other medical professionals (e.g., physicians, registered nurses) for first aid and routine health services, enabling workers to be treated for minor conditions and return to work promptly—helping projects remain on track and preventing further injury.

Delivering Targeted Care

Episodic health services provide flexible, targeted support for organizations that don’t need a permanent onsite health staff but want expert coverage for seasonal or project-specific risks. These health services can be offered at worksites on a one-time or recurring basis to address specific occupational illnesses and injuries. For example, organizing worksite flu vaccinations is a simple way contractors can curb the spread of a respiratory illness that can drive absenteeism and disrupt daily operations. Employers that take steps to limit flu spread have a better chance at maintaining stable staffing and reducing the need for overtime, which can ease workload pressures and prevent fatigue.

Measuring Impact and Demonstrating Value

An effective fatigue management strategy can drive meaningful gains in safety, performance, and employee wellbeing. Avoiding a single fatigue-related incident can easily justify the investment. Measurable outcomes can include:

• Injury Rates: Track recordable injuries and near-misses before and after plan implementation.
• Cost and Duration of Cases: Assess the speed and expense of work injury resolutions in specialized versus general care.
• Lost Workdays: Monitor reductions in days off and modified duty through improved prevention and quicker recoveries.
• Productivity: Analyze schedule adherence and rework rates to identify reductions in fatigue-related errors.
• Bid Competitiveness: Evaluate win rates on safety-sensitive projects linked to enhanced safety metrics.

Turning Insights Into Action 

A good first step in managing worker fatigue would be partnering with an occupational health provider. These medical professionals offer more than injury care. Occupational health experts can turn everyday injury data and real working conditions into a focused fatigue management strategy. By looking beyond individual cases to the patterns behind them, they can pinpoint where fatigue is increasing risk and recommend strategies that include:

• Analyzing injury and near-miss data for fatigue‑related patterns 
• Reviewing schedules and overtime to flag high‑risk rotations 
• Surveying workers and screening for sleep and fatigue issues 
• Evaluating high‑demand jobs where fatigue most threatens safety 
• Adding fatigue-related questions to injury evaluations to sharpen prevention

Reframing Fatigue Management as a Strategic Advantage

Fatigue management should be a core element of a risk mitigation strategy, not a sideline wellness initiative. Worker fatigue can impact safety performance, operational efficiency and financial outcomes. In an industry where safety records are scrutinized and margins hinge on precision, contractors that integrate a fatigue management strategy into their daily operations and workplace safety program are better positioned to protect their crews, strengthen their industry reputation and remain competitive.

SEE ALSO: A HEAD OF THE GAME: NAVIGATING TRAUMATIC BRAIN INJURIES IN CONSTRUCTION

The post Worker Fatigue: The Overlooked Hazard Driving Injuries and Rework first appeared on Construction Executive.