CONTRACTOR CORNER

This new section will provide union contractors — and those who are interested in becoming union contractors — with important, up-to-date health and safety information and resources.

The Center for Construction Research and Training’s (CPWR) Best Built Plans program is a planning tool for contractors that identifies actions to take, and provides free resources to use, at each project stage to implement safe materials handling practices.

The approach follows the hierarchy of controls for reducing the risks for injuries associated with manually lifting and moving materials, from the most effective approaches for risk reduction at the top of the inverted triangle to the least effective for risk reduction at the bottom.

While it’s best to begin safe materials implementation when bidding on a project to ensure the equipment and resources needed to work safely are in your budget, controls can be utilized at any stage of the project. The Site Planning Tool includes worksheets to help calculate the cost of using safe materials handling practices, checklists to use on the job, and training programs and educational materials to use with workers and management. To access these materials, visit https://tinyurl.com/5n7s8nu2 or scan the QR code.