Prevent Falls in the Construction Industry
Despite the best efforts of safety professionals on jobsites across the nation, the fact remains that falls continue to be a leading cause of work-related injuries and fatalities, as well as being a major cost for businesses:
- The construction industry accounts for nearly half of all falls, slips, and trips that occur in the U.S.
- On average, 360 construction workers lose their lives every year to slips, trips, and falls — a steady toll since 2011.
- $10 billion is spent each year on medical costs, workers’ compensation, lost wages, lost productivity, and administrative/insurance overhead after a fall on the same level.
The time to Prevent Falls is now. Take a few moments sometime during the week to pause from work and discuss fall hazards and fall prevention. The goal is twofold: to increase awareness of fall hazards and to reduce the number of falls. The idea is for employers and supervisors to educate workers about fall risks and fall prevention so there are fewer fall-related injuries and fatalities.
Safety Meeting Outlines Makes Training Simple and Effective
We're making it easy for you to train your workers. This collection of Fall Prevention and Fall Protection Safety Meetings include:
- Holes and Openings
- Ladder Safety
- PFAs
- Scaffold Safety
- Fall Rescue Plan
These Meetings can be e-mailed as a PDF or printed on plain paper and delivered by mail. Each Meeting will be personalized with your company name and is available in both English and Spanish. Use these meetings over the course of a week to cover a new fall topic each day or spread the training over the month to boost fall awareness.
How does it work?
- All of our Weekly Safety Meetings provide information that line-level employees can use to make safe choices as they work. Our Meetings are written and tested to make sure that they are both easy to read and easy to understand.
- We recommend that you read the text once beforehand, so you understand the material. Then read the Meeting to your crew, have everyone sign the form, get them back to work, and file your signed copy as proof of your training session.
- Keep signed copies of your Weekly Safety Meetings in your files. Those signed Meetings can prove invaluable down the road; demonstrating to OSHA inspectors that you do provide ongoing safety training. They may also come to your aid in a liability, negligence, or personal injury lawsuit.
What does it cost?
The cost of the Fall Prevention Collection is $35.
Additional Resources Here are some additional links to compliment your Safety Meetings on Fall Prevention and Fall Protection.
- Overview: National Safety Stand-Down To Prevent Falls in Construction: https://www.osha.gov/StopFallsStandDown/index.html
- Plan, Provide, Train: Three Simple Steps to Preventing Falls: https://www.osha.gov/stopfalls/index.html
- Fall Prevention in Residential Construction: https://www.osha.gov/doc/topics/residentialprotection/index.htm
-
Workplace Safety Index 2025 — Construction: https://business.libertymutual.com/workplace-safety-index/
