LETTER FROM THE CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Safety is the single most important issue in construction and our industry has matured greatly in even just the basics. Safety used to be compliance based but now, if you talk to any GBCA member, they will tell you that safety is about culture. I think prevention through design is an important differentiator in safety culture. Best way to eliminate a hazard? Don’t create it through an uninformed design or exacerbate it with traditional means and methods.

Summer is an ideal time to focus on heat-related precautions. GBCA’s numerous efforts on this front are empowering members to keep our construction workforce safe by not just talking about safety but providing real tools and resources that make an impact.

During the month of July, GBCA is running a heat safety campaign on 97.5 The Fanatic. These ads provide quick tips for construction workers and all workers in the heat about how to stay safe both indoors and outdoors. This includes how to spot signs of heat-related illness and check in on heat risk levels.

Throughout the summer, we are also hosting Heat Safety Stand Downs at member jobsites featuring GBCA Safety Consultant Jim McGugan and our Heat Hazard Toolbox Talk resources. Pausing all work to focus on how workers can keep themselves and their colleagues safe speaks volumes about just how critical heat safety is — and the cooling towel giveaways are also a big hit!

Additionally, our most recent Eggs with OSHA session about jobsite safety technologies provided an update on heat safety and the related apps that can help with safety measures.

Safety at GBCA goes well beyond the summer heat. To bolster the safety resources available to members, we partnered with United Academy, powered by United Rentals, to offer online safety training courses. These on-demand courses are designed to educate both safety professionals and construction trades workers on topics like fall protection, ladder safety, silica safety, excavating safety, and more.

It was an honor to celebrate many of our members at GBCA’s 2024 Safety Awards reception as we showcased 32 recent member projects with outstanding safety records. These projects are just a fraction of the many construction jobs throughout the region where commendable safety practices are in place.

GBCA takes its role of being the face of our industry very seriously. For our members, it’s about comradery, and that feeling of kinship filters to our job-sites every day. Ultimately, safety is not just about looking out for ourselves, it’s about looking out for others.

Craig Melograno

Chairman of the Board, GBCA

President, PDM Constructors, Inc.