More than 20,000 DPR employees and trade partners around the globe from hundreds of job sites participated in Construction Safety Week events May 1-5 to promote safety, health and wellness. While safety is a value embedded into our everyday culture, during Construction Safety Week, DPR joined construction industry peers around the world to collectively celebrate a safe mindset and foster engagement around environmental health, safety and wellbeing.

An industry-wide collaboration, Construction Safety Week is an annual event when construction companies re-focus and re-energize efforts to eliminate incidents on jobsites and bring awareness to mental health and wellness.

“As a company, we are prioritizing the mental health and wellbeing of our workforce and recognize that this has never been more important,” said Tiffany Newell, one of DPR’s talent advocates. “Who we build is as important as what we build, and that mindset includes working to create environments where our employees’ mental health is as important as their physical health. Overall wellness is a barometer for a life well-lived and the foundation for leading fulfilling lives at work and outside of it. Seeking to understand and support our team members is who we are, and how we take care of our people and respect the individual.”

In addition to mental health discussions and presentations, project teams engaged in Toolbox Talks that focused on psychological safety.

Throughout the week, DPR team members participated in safety demonstrations from vendors, mental health awareness presentations and discussions, project team safety recognition events, personal protective equipment (PPE) and equipment giveaways, appreciation BBQs and food trucks, special stretch and flex sessions and watermelon eating competitions focused on heat and hydration awareness. In support of furthering awareness and discussions, teams were provided with resources available through DPR’s Employee Assistance Program as well.

In Zurich, DPR teams participated in Toolbox Talks and Safety Week activities holding events like a real-time rescue demonstration using fall protection PPE. Observers learned the equipment and techniques to rescue an unconscious person and were able to witness the challenge of a time-critical rescue. Other DPR jobsites across Europe held safety workshops, trivia and quizzes, a hazard-spotting contest, and some friendly safety-related competition in the offices.

Jobsites throughout Texas held demonstrations on scaffolding safety and fall protection, a DPR SPW concrete team led a demo on hazard safety, and mental health presentations were given on several jobsites statewide. In Dallas, OSHA also gave a presentation on the four greatest hazards that lead to fatalities on construction sites, “The Focus Four.”

A project site in Washington, D.C. gave a demonstration on the importance of hydration using props to depict real life dehydration circumstances. Other jobsites promoted hydration by taste-testing and selecting winners of various flavored electrolyte packets added to water.

While Construction Safety Week activities are intended to re-focus and re-energize efforts to eliminate jobsite incidents and support engagement in safety and overall wellbeing, it wouldn’t be DPR without also including the core value of enjoyment.

“Each year, we grow more intentional about the importance of Safety Week,” said DPR EHS leader, Joe Garza. “Expanding opportunities to include conversations about psychological safety are reinforcing the correlation between physical safety and mental health with our teams. The “Strong Voices” theme is also a call beyond our workforce—it's an opportunity for deeper collaboration with our construction peers to unite and change the industry together in our drive toward zero worker incidents.”