LAWA CONSTRUCTION SAFETY PROGRAM BEATS NATIONAL AVERAGES, RECORDS NO LOST-TIME INJURIES IN PAST YEAR
For Immediate Release
Sept. 10, 2019
Contact:
LAX Public Relations
(424) 646-5260
(Los Angeles, CA) The $14.3 billion modernization at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) was already the largest public works program in the history of Los Angeles, and now it’s also one of the safest, with no lost-time incidents over the last year of construction work at the airport.
Between January and June, construction workers recorded a total of 2,834,554 hours without a lost-time injury. Meanwhile, workers on the Automated People Mover project recently passed 1 million hours worked without a lost-time injury.
"Safety is at the core of everything we do at Los Angeles World Airports, and as we lead the nation in modernizing our facilities it’s more critical than ever that we hold ourselves and our contracting partners to the highest standards to protect our passengers and employees,” said Deborah Flint, Chief Executive Officer, LAWA. “As of August, we have more than 2,500 women and men working on construction projects at LAX, and our exceptional safety record shows their dedication to building the future of this airport in the safest ways possible.”
Over the past five years, Los Angeles World Airports (LAWA) has performed exceptionally well on two industry-recognized benchmarks. LAWA’s Lost Time Incident Rate of 0.14 and Total Recordable Incident Rate of 1.07 exceed LAWA’s ambitious goal of one-third of the national average (1.3 and 3.5) for these key rates. The OSHA Lost Time Case Rate is calculated by multiplying the number of recordable cases that contained lost work days by 200,000, and then dividing that number by the number of labor hours at the company. The Recordable Incident Rate is a similar calculation, only it uses all incident cases, not just those with lost work days.
Leading this success is a team of assistant safety managers supported by a robust group of construction inspectors who enforce safety and security within active construction zones, in addition to ensuring compliance with construction quality requirements.
LAWA’s Construction Safety Program sets additional standards that go over and above those established by the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health and the contractors' site-specific Injury and Illness Prevention Program (IIPP), which is a proactive plan to find and fix potential hazards before workers are hurt.
These requirements were developed by LAWA to promote safety and minimize the hazards and risks associated with construction projects. This policy is designed to minimize, with a goal of eliminating, personal injuries and property damage associated with construction activities.
The effectiveness of the construction safety program depends upon the active participation of the contractor and recognizes dependency on active participation and cooperation of contractors’ staff in carrying out basic procedures, including:
- Planning safety into all work activities to minimize the potential for personal injury, property damage, and loss of productive time.
- Complying with federal, state and local laws, ordinances, and regulations; industry standards; and airport regulations and requirements.
- Maintaining a system of prompt detection and correction of unsafe practices and conditions.
- Establishing and conducting an educational program to stimulate and maintain interest and cooperation of all employees through safety meetings and safety training programs, through the use of personal protective equipment and mechanical guards, and through prompt notification and investigation of all accidents, incidents or claims to determine the causes and to take necessary corrective action.
Contractors working on LAWA projects are required to send representatives to a monthly all-hands meeting. The informative, hour-long meeting is led by the LAWA Program Safety Manager. A typical agenda includes discussion of any incidents and lessons learned, updates on the construction and safety programs, and access to representatives of different equipment vendors or utility companies who can talk about new safety features and best practices. A representative of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) Training Center at California State University Dominguez Hills is on hand bimonthly to provide no-cost training.
Since 2014, LAWA has maintained an online safety training program where members from the LAWA project management teams, project managers, construction managers, and construction inspectors are required to participate in a monthly online safety training and quiz. LAWA provides a 10-hour OSHA training class for contractors and airport staff each month. LAWA’s safety staff hold professionally recognized Certified Health & Safety Technician (CHST) certification or higher from the Board of Certified Safety Professionals. LAWA also has a training program for construction inspectors who start at the Assistant Inspector position, a trainee level classification, and over the course of 2.5 years become qualified for full duties.
LAX, the sixth-busiest airport in the world serving nearly 66 million guests in 2022, is owned and operated by Los Angeles World Airports (LAWA), a proprietary, revenue-generating department of the City of Los Angeles that also governs Van Nuys Airport (VNY). As the international gateway to the Southern California region, LAX and its partners are dedicated to meeting global airport standards for customer satisfaction, safety, regional economic leadership, organizational performance and sustainability.
To better serve the millions of domestic and international guests that travel through LAX each year, the airport is undergoing a multi-billion-dollar capital improvement program to modernize its entire campus. Initiatives underway include an Automated People Mover, a Consolidated Rental Car Facility and two projects that will each add over one million square feet to the airport's existing property: Terminal 9 and Concourse 0. For more information about LAX, its transformation and its environmental, social and local workforce commitments, please visit flylax.com. Follow LAX on X (formally Twitter), Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook and YouTube.
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