Heat Illness Safety Stand Down

Beginning at 7 am on Tuesday, June 16, 2015,  worksite employees stopped working and participated in AGC Georgia's Stand Down focusing on heat illnesses. This stand down was the 19th program AGC Georgia has developed or been a co-sponsor of in recent years.  These programs benefit personnel working throughout the United States.

Since the inception of this program, over 243,000 construction industry job site employees in Georgia and dozens of other states have participated in at least one Safety Stand Down. These individuals are better prepared to be safe workers after learning key safety topics provided by AGC Georgia. Project managers and superintendents are in charge of leading Stand Down tool box talks on their job sites. 

The following materials developed by AGC Georgia and OSHA are available for all participating firms in the Safety Stand Down.  

• Promotional Poster to Display in Corporate Offices and on Jobsites
• Tool Box Lesson Plan to Guide Your Jobsite Discussion
• English
• Spanish
• Hydrate or Die
• OSHA's Heat Illness Campaign Materials and Download the App

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 and workplace employees. 

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. 

AGC Georgia 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.

Why was the focus for this Safety Stand Down on Heat Illness?
AGC Georgia is a strong supporter of OSHA's campaign to prevent heat illness in outdoor workers. Summer months in the southeast can be brutal on field employees, and heat illnesses can be deadly. These illnesses are preventable.

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