National Work Zone Awareness Week begins today, but we’ll wait until tomorrow to kick off this national awareness campaign. We’ve set today aside to focus on safety training for our industry’s workforce.
To people who don’t know much about National Work Zone Awareness Week, waiting until Day 2 to kick off an awareness campaign might seem a little strange. When you think about it, though, reserving Day 1 to focus on safety training is the perfect place to start.
National Work Zone Awareness Week exists to raise awareness about the dangers of road construction jobs. It’s a time when the construction industry can speak, with a collective voice, about work zone safety. And our message to motorists is clear: When they pay attention and obey laws in work zones, they can save the lives of construction workers.
So why start by focusing on safety for crew members? Because this emphasis shows that safety starts with us. It shows that, before taking our appeals to motorists, we’re doing our part to make work zones safer. This shows our industry is committed to creating work environments that are as safe as possible — even before the first motorist enters a work zone.
Work zone safety is a partnership between construction workers and drivers who travel through work zones. When we do our part, we help the public do its part.
So today, as National Work Zone Awareness Week begins, InfraStripe companies — along with other leading companies in our industry — will take time for safety training. We’re also encouraging our businesses and other industry leaders to assess their overall safety training programs.
Then tomorrow we’ll start taking our message to motorists with kick-off events, including the national kick-off event sponsored by the Missouri Department of Transportation. The week continues Wednesday with Go Orange Day and Thursday with our annual Social Media Storm.
We’ll post more about those events later in the week.