The National Safety Stand-Down is a voluntary event for businesses and employers throughout the country to specifically put aside time to talk about safety. This year, the 2022 National Safety Stand-Down is May 2-6.
According to the OSHA website, “Fatalities caused by falls from elevation continue to be a leading cause of death for construction employees, accounting for 351 of the 1,008 construction fatalities recorded in 2020 (BLS data).
“Those deaths were preventable. The National Safety Stand-Down raises fall hazard awareness across the country in an effort to stop fall fatalities and injuries.”
Any workplace can hold a Safety Stand-Down and all workplaces are encouraged to participate and focus on fall hazards and reinforce the importance of fall prevention. Participants have included commercial construction companies, residential construction contractors, independent contractors, highway construction companies, general industry companies, the U.S. Military, unions, and trade associations, among others.
The National Safety Stand-Down is an opportunity that can also be used to talk with employees about various job hazards, protective methods, and a company’s safety policies and goals. It can also be an opportunity for workers to talk to management about job hazards they see.
To Conduct a Safety Stand-Down:
- Take a break for a toolbox talk
- Conduct safety equipment inspections
- Discuss rescue plans or job-specific hazards
- Follow up to see if changes should be made to the safety program.
To Prepare for a Safety Stand-Down:
- Start early
- Ask subcontractors, owners, architects, engineers or others to participate
- Consider reviewing entire fall-prevention program
- Consider how the fall-prevention program can be improved
- Develop presentations or activities to help relay pertinent safety information
- Determine when, where, and how long the stand-down will last
- Promote the stand-down to increase participation
- Hold the stand-down and
- Follow up to see if changes should be made to the safety program.
Following the completion of the Safety Stand-Down, a Certificate of Participation can be downloaded from the osha.gov website. To share information with the public or OSHA on a Safety Stand-Down, use the hashtag: #StandDown4Safety.
