Supervisors get more training these days because they're the frontline drivers of safety. Many supervisors used to aspire to OSHA's 10-hour safety program, but now they're doing 30 hours of training or more.

KBR Building Group, based in Charlotte, N.C., has been a leader in the behavioral approach to safety, and admits it's not always easy. It requires a commitment from management and creating a well-trained safety staff, as well as spending money on something that doesn't always produce tangible results. KBR's Gaylord Ballard, senior health, safety and environment manager, oversees nearly 20 safety professionals, but its global parent company, Houston-based KBR Inc., has hundreds of safety people worldwide, Ballard says.

"We've been on this strategy for a number of years, and it takes that long to move a huge company to where we can say honestly that it's productive," he adds.

Pre-planning Strategies

Another cornerstone of many companies' behavioral safety plans involves pre-planning, which often starts with an estimator getting a set of plans for a bid, targeting high-risk activities and putting them on a risk register. Those activities are then addressed in a job-safety analysis. As a job progresses, subcontractors and workers may be part of a daily pre-task plan. They monitor the air in work areas and whether tools and equipment needed for that day's work have been inspected recently.

New technology is also helping prevent jobsite injuries. Supervisors use their smart phones to photograph workers doing something unsafe, then show the workers so they can correct the problem. Contractors employ proximity alarms, electronic tablets for safety audits and computers for collecting data such as hourly weather reports that warn of high winds, heavy rain, snow and other potentially dangerous weather.

When injuries happen, many progressive companies do exhaustive investigations aimed at finding causes and preventing recurrences. KBR, for example, developed its own proprietary system called TapRooT, which includes software and training for that purpose.

"It's a system we use companywide that deep dives into even the most innocuous detail, every incident and near miss. … We look at what happened and why, and what we can do to prevent it in the future," KBR's Ballard says. Contractors say creating a safe jobsite helps them attract top talent and keep those workers coming back because they know they'll be treated well. It also helps companies be more productive and save millions of dollars from both the direct and indirect costs of injuries. "Not only is it the right thing to do, it's just good business," says CII's Crew.