Construction Safety at the UW Ron Fouty, Safety Director Capital Projects Office University of Washington

Who Can Influence Construction Safety? Owners General Contractors Tier Contractors SupervisorsEmployees

Why should an owner care? Exposure to Liability Contactor Costs –Injury Costs translate into increased overhead for contractors, which translate into increased bid pricing Contractor Efficiency –Injury Prevention Efforts result in more effective execution of the work –Employee Morale

Why does the UW care? Exposure to Employees Exposure to Students Exposure to Public Exposure to the Workers It’s the Right Thing To Do

What Can the Owner Do? Establish Guiding Philosophy Set Expectations Promote a Safety Culture Support Contractor Listen

Is Compliance With the Law Enough? OSHA and Labor and Industries Regulations are Minimum Standards Strict Compliance will NOT assure no injuries Best Practices CAN be developed and implemented

UW Capital Projects Office Approach to Construction Safety

Planning Contract Documents Design Elements Design Phase Hazard Analysis Contractor Accident Prevention Plan Site Specific Safety Plans Job Hazard analysis Foreman Level Task Planning

Execution Develop Relationship Familiarity with Plan Observe for Effectiveness Solicit Worker Feedback

Evaluation Open discussion with the contractors of what is working and what needs improvement Development of steps for improvement Observation of implementation

What Happens if Thing Go Wrong?

Incident Investigation – The Owners Role Contractual requirements for reporting No Fault Incident Review Understand the Facts Develop Lessons Learned Implement recommended change Share the lessons widely

Metrics Tracking Information Developing incident history Focus on trends Modify contractual requirements as necessary

Does It Work? UW Experience Reduction in Severity Reduction in Hand Injuries Improved Reporting

Body Part Injured

Type of Injury

Experience

Injury Rates Injury Rates

What does the UW expect? All employees to leave the job in the same (or better!)condition than they came in Compliance with the safety and health rules Development of an effective site specific safety plan Active engagement in worker safety Investigation and reporting of incidents Development of corrective actions

ZERO Injuries