Three Not So Hidden Costs of Unsafe Job Sites

Contractors and construction workers rely on a steady stream of projects and assignments, often from returning customers.

If I’m working as a subcontractor at a construction site where the customer can see that my employees are ignoring safety compliance—whether that be from not wearing PPE or violating workplace expectations—can I blame the customer for looking elsewhere next time they need to complete a project?

Why would a client continue investing in a project that accidents, fines, and liability can derail so easily? Ultimately, ignoring safety compliance sends a message of unprofessionalism and destroys a customer’s trust that the project will be completed on time and without incident.

And bad reputations spread much faster and broader across communities. People take notice of companies and worksites that ignore safety compliance. In the age of instant communication and user-driven online reviews, it can be tough to dig yourself out of that hole.

Now more than ever, word gets around. And even one non-compliant job can brand your company as the people who employ the wrong workforce, treat employees as disposable, or are careless around equipment. It’s an embarrassing position to be in, and in a competitive economy, a bad reputation can cost a lot of people their livelihoods.

A company’s reputation ultimately comes down to a few descriptors. In our business, the word ‘safety’ has become a useful adjective in describing how we operate, our timeliness, and our efficiency. Deciding on the words you want to be synonymous with your business and then putting the right foot forward to prove their accuracy on the job can go a long way.

At the end of the day, the employees on the ground are the ones whose physical safety is in jeopardy within a non-compliant worksite. In construction, I have seen workers cross the street to another job for only slightly higher pay. There is very little stopping them from walking away from a worksite where they don’t feel protected.

Suppose a foreman or a superintendent decided to cut corners with safety on a project. In that case, the workforce will be the first ones to take notice. It demonstrates to workers how little respect those managers have for their time, labor, and well-being.

With compliance, it all comes back to leadership. The ones overseeing construction projects often aren’t the ones who need to be concerned with their physical safety. But your tradesmen and your labor team make up roughly 80% of your workforce. And their safety and security need to be addressed, or there’s no guarantee they’ll stick around to complete the job.