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GPRS is a long-time sponsor of Construction Safety Week. You can learn about all of the annual safety initiatives we sponsor by visiting gprsinc.com and clicking on the Safety tab.
Engineering News-Record just published a new Editorial Message from the Construction Safety Week Executive Committee on their new initiative, “All In Together| A Five -Year Vision to Transform Safety.”
The Chair and Co-Chair of the Committee, Gilbane Building’s CEO Adam Jelen and Granite’s CEO Kyle Larkin, laid out the basics of their plan in “A Message From the Safety Week Executive Committee.”
“The construction industry is a major employer and significant contributor to the U.S. economy, creating nearly $2.1 trillion worth of structures each year… Now, we’re launching a bold five-year vision to drive alignment in how safety is understood, owned and engineered across the entire project lifecycle. Safety is not just a jobsite concern; it’s an industry-wide imperative. And it starts with a shared terminology, a unified approach and fully recognizing and planning for the complex hazards our teams face.” *
The new five-year initiative aims to drive…
• Deeper engagement
• A Mindset of continuous improvement
• Mutual accountability & collaboration
… on jobsites nationwide.
2026’s Construction Safety Week continues the “All In Together” theme, this time with the caveats to “Recognize, Respond, Respect.” These “three pillars” reflect the industry’s shared responsibility to confront the need to eliminate Serious Injuries and Fatalities (SIFs), by identifying and mitigating hazards through shared purpose and terminology.
The initiative aims to get safety managers and crews to recognize and control what the Safety Week Executive Committee has identified as the precursors to SIFs: High Hazards and High Energy.
Here are some of the direct quotes of industry professionals who were part of the Executive Committee’s research:
“If I could change anything, I would push for more open communication and being educated on the unknowns.” – Ironworker Survey Respondent, Portland, OR
“I’d like to see more training for people to better understand their hazards.” – Millwright Worker Survey Respondent, Lexington, KY
“I would love to see standardization amongst sites to match the sites considered the gold standard.” – General Contractor Survey Respondent, Rockville, VA
Their research led the Executive Committee to designate a third segment of SFI precursors – along with High Hazards, and High Energy, they added, “Stuff That Can Kill You,” aka STCKY.
What is STCKY and How Does It Keep Construction Workers Safer?
It has long been understood that the U.S. construction industry faces some highest rates of severe injuries and deaths; and while injury rates have seen a “steady downward trend,” the fatality rate continues to climb. In 2023, 1,075 construction workers were killed on the job, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. And since 2017’s low of 971 fatalities, there has only been one year – 2021, during the global Covid pandemic – where annual fatalities dipped below 1,000.
While there are standardized safety and risk reduction programs that are widely used throughout the construction industry, there is little enforcement on how those standards are interpreted and implemented. The Executive Committee’s technical brief seeks to analyze why those standards have not led to standardized practices, with a focus on “hazard identification models, hazard severity, and high energy sources.”
For instance, many craft and tradespeople can recognize high energy of high hazard risks, but the specific terms used to describe them vary to a degree could render one person’s definition meaningless to another.
Which brings us back to STCKY.
STCKY – Stuff That Can Kill You – is part of the CSW SIF Precursor Formula, designed to help construction workers and tradespeople better identify risk in the planning phase of any task.
The SIF Precursor Formula: High Hazard = STCKY = Fatal Four = High Energy
The Construction Safety Research Alliance has researched the effect of pre-task planning on safety, and finds that workers routinely miss 55% of the potential hazards/risk factors they may encounter. But, when that same pre-task planning includes visualization tools like the Energy Wheel model, their ability to mitigate risk in the planning phase increased by 30%.
The “solution” as proposed by the Executive Committee is the Formula for SIF Precursors detailed in the infographic above. It marries High Hazard and High Energy risks to OSHA’s famous Fatal/Focus Four (falls, electrocution, caught between, and struck by accidents), and Stuff That Can Kill You, to cover the most prominent terminology variables on jobsites.
“This underscores a critical truth: SIF precursors consistently involve high energy or high hazard conditions. While several effective identification approaches already exist, the industry can amplify their impact with a show of force. Through harmonization and a unified commitment to standardized direct controls—and by fostering a culture of respect for those controls—the construction sector can significantly reduce fatality rates and set a new standard for safety excellence.”
GPRS is proud to stand with our colleagues and other construction safety leaders as part of Construction Safety Week. CSW 2026 will be May 4-8, and GPRS will once again send our safety experts nationwide to help spread the word about best practices to keep your people safe and send them home at the end of each day. You can learn more about GPRS’ ongoing commitment to construction safety by clicking the Safety tab at gprisinc.com.
*source: The Association of General Contractors
Frequently Asked Questions
How does GPRS contribute to jobsite safety in construction?
GPRS’ #1 focus is safety and part of our mission is the pursuit of 100% subsurface damage prevention because sending your team home safe and sound every day is the most important job we can help you do.
Our Subsurface Investigation Methodology (SIM) provides the gold standard in underground utility locating and concrete scanning, so we can help you ensure your team is clear to cut, core, or drill with confidence. Our Video Pipe Inspection services provide NASSCO-compliant PACP-coded defect and condition reporting, pipe locations, and more. And, our reality capture services provide 2-4 millimeter-accurate structural measurements to help you avoid clashes, reworks, and downtime. Because when you know what’s hidden/underneath, you can build more safely.
What are OSHA’s Fatal/Focus Four?
OSHA’s Fatal Four, sometimes called the Focus Four are the most common causes of serious injuries and fatalities: Falls, Electrocution, Caught Between, and Struck By, which are responsible for some 60% of construction deaths. Some include a fifth potentially fatal item – RCS – respirable crystalline silica that causes Silicosis, an incurable respiratory disease. You can learn more about the Fatal Four, here.
What other safety initiatives does GPRS sponsor?
GPRS is a proud sponsor of Construction Safety Week each May. We also are the chief sponsors of Concrete Sawing & Drilling Safety Week, and Water & Sewer Damage Awareness Week.
