MD COPE Report: MontCo Construction Workers Welcome New Safety Regs

(Metropolitan Washington Council, AFL-CIO)Construction workers in Montgomery County are looking forward to safer working conditions thanks to new regulations on county construction projects. “Safety on the job doesn’t just happen,” said Washington Building & Construction Trades Council President Vance Ayres, who served on the Worker Safety & Health Commission, which issued the new regulations. “You have to embed safety in the planning process from the start and make sure workers have the tools they need when they need them.” The Department of Labor, Licensing, and Regulation reports that 5,900 Maryland construction workers suffered occupational injury and illness in 2009. “Under the revised requirements the safety records of subcontractors are also reviewed and considered” when contractors bid on county projects, explains Scott Schneider, a workplace health safety authority from the Laborers International Union, who also served on the Commission. County Executive Ike Leggett, who established the Commission in 2009, added “every job in our community ought to be a safe job." - photo by Jaime Puebla/The National