Personal protective equipment can help prevent the most common jobsite accidents
Overexertion, falls, being struck by an object and highway accidents are unfortunately all too common in heavy construction. According to the first annual Liberty Mutual Workplace Safety Index, the most common injuries and illnesses can be minimized or prevented with proper use of personal protection equipment (PPE).

Libery Mutual Group, a leading provider of workers’ compensation insurance, estimates the total burden of workplace injuries and illnesses ranges between $125 and $155 billion annually, which includes nearly $40 billion in wage and medical payments.

Liberty Mutual asserts there is a clear link between jobsite safety and a company’s performance. It has established the safety index as a way to highlight the leading causes of illnesses and injuries and offers guidelines to help reduce them. Check it out at www.libertymutual.com.

Figure the cost-benefit of 
personal protective equipment
The International Safety Equipment Association (ISEA) offers an easy-to-use brochure that helps figure the true cost of a jobsite injury. It can be helpful in convincing others about the cost-effectiveness of PPE.

The brochure, “Personal Protective Equipment: An Investment in Your Workers’ and Company’s Future” is available without charge by contacting ISEA at (703) 525-1695. It is also posted on ISEA’s Web site: www.safetyequipment.org.

You can’t breathe easy without proper training
A recent Bureau of Labor Statistics report identifies gaps in respirator training. The study found that only 10 percent of private construction industry establishments and employees use respirators, but of that group, a surprising number did not effectively train workers in respirator use.

Forty percent of the employers provide respirator use training, but 32 percent of them say their workers rely on the manufacturer’s warnings as use training. Nine percent of those surveyed said respirator use training is not needed.

Published in the July/August 2002 issue of Contractor Tools and Supplies magazine.

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