In an industry already in crisis—with rising jobsite deaths and injuries and now in a rush to start and complete economic stimulus projects worth many billions of dollars—where, ultimately, does responsibility for worker safety lie? Does it, as some argue, rest partly with individual workers, or should employers, project owners or even the government be held fully accountable when there is an accident on a construction site?
Earlier this year, ENR published a Viewpoint titled, “We Need Personal Safety Records,” by Peter Lupo, director of safety for T.B. Penick & Sons Inc., a San Diego-based general contractor. In it, Lupo said, “I am convinced the only way to etch safety indelibly in the hearts and minds of workers is to engage each individual in a way that he or she cannot ignore, a way that makes the worker personally accountable for the individual’s actions.”