Safety: A Criterion of Excellence

Workplace safety is a criterion of excellence on union construction projects, just as much as efficiency, productivity, and environmental and social responsibility. Safe construction practices are not only built into the collective bargaining agreements between unions and contractors, they are a key component of every union training program. Starting with the first day of school, apprentices learn the safe way to complete a task. They continue receiving workplace safety and health training throughout their careers.

Safety on the job site translates into fewer accidents, greater productivity and a shorter build time. Only contractors who employ workers with years of training and continuing education can ensure that a job site is as safe as possible.

Yawkey Center for Outpatient Care, Massachusetts General Hospital: (Photo courtesy of Bruce T. Martin Photography)
"Partners HealthCare has a long standing and valued relationship with the building trades unions and union contractors going back many decades. Our complex projects require a highly trained workforce and the unions have delivered. Patient and employee safety is at the forefront of our clinical and research work, and we see a similar emphasis in the union's workforce training and continuing education programs to promote the safest possible construction site."     

-John Messervy, AIA Director, Capital & Facility Planning, Partners HealthCare System, Inc.