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Education & Safety > Safety Stand Down Program > Safety Stand Down on Heat Illnesses - August 3, 2011 >


 

Wednesday, August 3, 2011
beginning at 7:00 am
on Construction Jobsites Across Georgia

Beginning at 7 am on Wednesday, August 3, 2011 approximately 12,000 construction jobsite employees on more than 250 jobsites across Georgia ceased work to participate in Georgia Branch, AGC's Safety Stand Down focusing on heat illness, which was developed with the full support of OSHA.  This was the seventh program organized by Georgia Branch, AGC to benefit jobsite personnel working on Chapter member projects.

Since the inception of this program, over 65,000 construction industry jobsite employees in Georgia and 15 other states have participated in at least one Chapter hosted Safety Stand Down. These individuals are better prepared to be safe workers after learning key safety topics that Georgia Branch, AGC provides to project managers and superintendents who are charged with leading Stand Down tool box talks on their jobsites.

The following groups pledged to make safety a priority:

Affinity Service Group
R. W. Allen, LLC
Batson-Cook Company
Beatty Construction Company
Bowen & Watson, Inc.
Brasfield & Gorrie, LLC
Comfort Systems USA Southeast
Cork-Howard Construction Company
Duffey Southeast, Inc.
Eckardt Electric
Everett Dykes Grassing, Inc.
Gay Construction Company
Gilbane Building Company
Habersham County
Heaton Erecting, Inc.
Holder Construction Company
Humphries and Company, LLC

LeMay Electric, Inc.
Lumpkin County Road Department
MARTA
McCarthy Building Companies, Inc.
New South Construction
Nix-Fowler Constructors, Inc.
Piedmont Construction Group
Ra-Lin and Associates, Inc.
Rogers Bridge Co., Inc.
L. E. Schwartz & Son
Chris R. Sheridan & Company
Skanska Building Co., Inc.
Swofford Construction, Inc.
Tebarco Mechanical Corporation
Turner Construction Company
Van Winkle & Co., Inc.
Wild Bore Machine, LLC
J. M. Wilkerson Construction Co.
                                                                                                     

B
elow is a summary of the Safety Stand Down promotional materials made available to the general contractors as they were considering participating in the statewide event:


What is a Stand Down?
Construction companies, who know the value of safety training, use a Safety Stand Down to stop all work and provide a focused safety toolbox talk meeting on all their jobsites, on one day, at the same time, on one particular topic. This meeting provides effective communication of safety policies, goals and expectations to all levels of a construction team.

While stand downs are commonly used in the military, they are not new to the construction industry. Fellow AGC chapters across America regularly organize them for their contractor members and many national contractors also include these in their safety program.

Georgia Branch, AGC, and our Stand Down partners, OSHA and CompTrust AGC Mutual Captive Insurance Company (MCIC) believe there is tremendous value in committing 5 minutes to one hour of your day's work to talk about safety, leading to increased employee safety morale. Stopping to talk about safety brings it to the forefront of everyone's mind! It is very important to communicate your firm's safety message to front line workers who constitute the largest group of our industry's workforce.

It's easy to participate!!!

You can register your company to participate in the Stand Down with our registration form. By registering you are committing your firm to conduct a Stand Down on your jobsites on the morning of August 3, 2011 beginning at approximately 7:00 am.

Chapter staff provides your company's chosen contact with the toolbox talk and posters to display on your jobsites and in your corporate office promoting your firm's upcoming participation in the safety program.

Why Focus on Heat Illnesses for this Safety Stand Down?

Georgia Branch, AGC has joined forces with OSHA's campaign to prevent heat illness in outdoor workers.  Heat illness can be deadly.  Every year thousands of workers become sick from exposure to heat and some die.  These illnesses are preventable.

Keep your employees safe by providing this free tool box meeting.

For more information, on Georgia Branch, AGC's Safety Stand Down Programs, please contact Cherri Watson, Georgia Branch, AGC's Director of Safety, Education and Workforce Development at 678-298-4104.