In 2014, the construction industry experienced 796 work related deaths, impacting thousands of family members, friends, and coworkers. Safety Week raises awareness of safety in the construction industry with the goal of preventing incidents and injuries on job sites, and educating people to look out for one another. Shawmut is participating in a big way, training an estimated 12,000 employees, subcontractors, clients, and union members on all aspects of job safety.

“This is our sixth year celebrating Safety Week at Shawmut,” said Shaun Carvalho, Safety Director at Shawmut Design and Construction. “2015 will be a busy year for us with many projects across the country, and we want to make sure every person on our job sites has the knowledge and training to be as safe as possible.”

Active construction projects across the nation are the backdrop of Shawmut’s Safety Week events, from luxury shopping retailers to medical centers. In New York City, safety trainings are taking place at Saint Laurent and InterContinental Barclay Hotel, while down in Miami, safety talks are being held at Tom Ford, and up in Boston, a ladder training and fall protection seminar is being conducted at Boston Medical Center.

Collaboration is an essential part of Safety Week at Shawmut; it is the time when industry competitors, professional organizations and unions come together for a greater good. On May 5, in Providence, Rhode Island, Brown University’s Applied Mathematics Building served as the setting for a Shawmut Safety Week event on fall protection with many partners including: RI Associated General Contractors, competitive firms Dimeo and Gilbane, OSHA, and trade unions. Live demonstrations to showcase proper equipment to prevent fall injury captivated attendees, giving them the tools to understand how to best protect themselves and their workers.

“This week has been a great success,” said Carvalho. “With 163 events across the country and over 12,000 people trained, we are looking forward to a safe 2015.”