01-34 GENERALS SPRING25 PT - Flipbook - Page 16
HEALTH & SAFETY
PREVENTING
COMPLACENCY
ON THE JOB
Strategies for keeping workers alert to the
hazards and risks of construction work.
HERE IS A COMMON—but hard to
detect—factor in many
worker injuries and fatalities:
complacency.
In construction health
and safety, complacency is a
mindset that develops when someone
underestimates the hazards on the
jobsite and the risk of an incident. It
leads to them being less aware of their
surroundings and less vigilant about
following health and safety policies and
procedures.
“We get used to doing the same thing
in the same way for so long that we don’t
identify new hazards that are introduced
into the work or the work area,” says
Jennifer McKenzie, IHSA’s Director of
Stakeholder and Client Engagement.
“We get complacent and forget that
jobsites change from day to day, as does
construction overall.”
Anyone can become complacent.
However, McKenzie says it’s more likely
to a昀昀ect workers who have done the same
work for a long time.
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