Let's Take a Public Stand for Worker Safety

Dear Fellow ASSE Members:

It's not every day that we get a chance to do something together to make a public stand for the safety and health of workers. As I know many of you already have heard, ASSE's partners in occupational safety and health - OSHA and NIOSH - have been working hard to get as many construction employers as possible to participate in the June 2-6 National Safety Stand-Down to Prevent Falls in Construction. The point of the Stand-Down is to get employers and workers together to stop and take the time to focus on ways each job site can reduce the leading risk of death in construction - FALLS. What you already do to protect workers from falls is needed on every construction worksite.

Even if you do not work in construction, you have a role to play by committing to this effort with your employer and by reaching out to other employers, colleague safety and health professionals, construction workers you know or anyone else who can help make a Stand-Down happen. Both OSHA and NIOSH have created webpages to help you learn more about the Stand-Down and how you can participate. ASSE and its Construction Practice Specialty have urged chapters and members to be a catalyst and embrace this opportunity to demonstrate our leadership role in construction safety. Please click here for a list of good ideas on how to make a Stand-Down effective.

In these last couple of weeks before the Stand-Down, it's not too late to step up and be that catalyst in the prevention of falls in construction. Making workplaces safer is our common goal. This is a great opportunity to make that happen together.

Make it a safe day!

Sincerely,

Kathy A. Seabrook, CSP, CFIOSH, EurOSHM

President