Jason T.K. Anglin, SRMC director The Voice Newsletter May 2023

In recent years, one of the more complex challenges facing the construction industry is attracting new workers to the industry. As construction professionals, we also understand new workers pose a special hazard to both the project site and to themselves. 

Inexperienced workers historically have higher rates of both incidents and injuries. Additionally, even experienced construction workers who are new to a company or project have higher incident and injury rates than workers who have been with a team for a year or more.

To help reduce the potential for higher incident and injury rates, companies should have a plan in place to transition new workers into an organization.

Elements of the plan should include the following best management practices:
Committing resources to help integrate, train and coach new workers as they join a project team.

As new workers join a project, the field management team needs to dedicate more resources to their training and may need additional personnel to help manage other aspects of the project.

Developing and implementing training material to address specific hazards to new workers.

Train superintendents and foremen to educate and coach new project team members. 

Help raise the awareness of new workers to a project by identifying them by using high visibility clothing, helmets, or badges.

Monitor the ratio of new to experienced workers on a jobsite. If the ratio of new to experienced workers is high, the project may need to be rebalanced.

Additionally, as a company has large influxes of staff, the effect of existing safety orientations and onboarding processes may be lessened if not fully supported. If a hiring surge is expected due to seasonal or project demands review your processes to ensure that your company’s safety goals remain intact.

Adding new workers presents a challenge to any organization but, with planning and training, it can be done safely and be rewarding for our industry.