{"id":1674,"date":"2020-02-04T14:54:31","date_gmt":"2020-02-04T19:54:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.construction.com\/newsroom_details_pag\/influence-supervisors-construction-safety-rises-new-study\/"},"modified":"2025-10-11T10:08:12","modified_gmt":"2025-10-11T14:08:12","slug":"influence-supervisors-construction-safety-rises-new-study","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.construction.com\/reports\/influence-supervisors-construction-safety-rises-new-study\/","title":{"rendered":"Influence of Supervisors on Construction Safety Rises in New Study"},"content":{"rendered":"

Influence of Supervisors on Construction Safety Rises in New Study<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\"Architectural<\/p>\n

Jobsite workers continue to be a critical part of safety programs, and new data show that construction firms rely on the leadership of their supervisors to improve safety.<\/em><\/p>\n

NEW YORK \u2013 February 5, 2020<\/strong> While improving jobsite safety has always been a top priority in the construction industry, the Safety Management in the Construction Industry SmartMarket Report<\/em> series over the last eight years has shown that contractors place high importance on jobsite worker participation and contribution to safety. The latest SmartMarket Report, published by Dodge Data & Analytics<\/a>, with the support of the CPWR \u2013 The Center for Construction Research and Training and Procore, reinforces those findings, and places new emphasis on the importance of supervisors onsite and their leadership in promoting safety.<\/p>\n

Jobsite workers and supervisors dominate four factors selected by the highest percentage of contractors as essential aspects of a world-class safety program: jobsite worker involvement (84%), strong safety leadership abilities in supervisors (83%), regular safety meetings with jobsite workers and supervisors (82%) and ongoing access to safety training for supervisors and jobsite workers (77%). These four factors rank far above other important factors such as regular safety audits (67%), having staff positions devoted to safety (61%) or regular safety meetings among staff at the corporate level (62%). The percentage selecting the aspects involving supervisors also increased notably between 2017 and 2019, with increases spanning 7 to 10 percentage points.<\/p>\n

The study also shows that companies rely on their supervisors and foremen to deliver safety training to jobsite workers \u201373% selected this as the means by which they provide training, almost 50% more than those selecting the second most popular option of using an in-house trainer.<\/p>\n

The industry therefore needs to make sure supervisors and foremen can provide the safety leadership needed onsite, but the study suggests that the industry tools to do so are not being fully utilized. In 2017, the Foundations for Safety Leadership training module was introduced as an elective to the OSHA 30-hour safety training course, but only 43% of those participating in the study were familiar with this offering. This is despite the fact that, among the 29% who are actually using it, nearly all (90%) report that it is effective in improving the jobsite safety climate.<\/p>\n

\u201cThrough our partnership in these studies with Dodge Data & Analytics over the years we learned that well over 80% of the contractors surveyed relied on the OSHA 30-Hour training program for their supervisory training, even though it was not designed for that,\u201d says Chris Cain, CPWR Executive Director. \u201cThe Foundations for Safety Leadership (FSL) module was developed to fill this gap\u201d, she says, \u201cand more than 70,000 workers have received the FSL training since it was first introduced three years ago. The contractors we\u2019ve spoken to who have utilized it speak very highly of it, but from this report it is clear that we need to do a better job of promoting this free resource to the industry.\u201d<\/p>\n

The latest Safety Management SmartMarket Report continues to find strong business benefits resulting from contractors\u2019 safety management programs, with over two thirds (69%) reporting that it increases their ability to attract new work. Over half (57%), also find that it improves their ability to retain staff, a critical factor for success in an increasingly tight labor market. \u201cDodge studies consistently find that most contractors are struggling with skilled worker shortages,\u201d says Steve Jones, Senior Director, Industry Insights at Dodge Data & Analytics. \u201cThe competitive edge from being able to retain staff is growing in the industry.\u201d<\/p>\n

The study also looks at the tools to improve safety management, from the use of safety policies and organizational practices to training practices.<\/p>\n