construction have you observed since you’ve been in it – has there been sig- nificant movement?


JASON KUNZ: Tere are a few things. Number one, when I first started, we treated every injury the same. We treat- ed a paper cut like a fatality or an ankle sprain like an amputation – at least on paper – as absurd as that sounds. Com- panies obsessed over their TRIR (total recordable incident rate). As long as your TRIR was below 2.0, for example, you were safe, and this somehow meant you were a “good” company. And if for some reason your TRIR was above 2.0, say, that must mean you are unsafe. It would be similar to your doctor


checking only your blood pressure to determine your holistic health. No one would argue that’s a useful approach. As this industry knows especially well, TRIR is statistically irrelevant. It has no direct correlation with serious injuries or fatalities (SIFs). So you’ve seen the construction industry willing to evolve, willing to adapt, willing to ask the hard questions, and really, leading the way when it comes to things like embracing the principles of SIF prevention, and adopting Energy Based Safety (EBS) – evolving their measures and metrics for what it truly means to be “safe.” When you look at implementing and


integrating EBS, construction is leading the charge, and other industries are picking it up as a result. Understanding that energy causes harm. More energy causes more harm, and safeguards save lives. Tose principles (around EBS) are not just ideology or theory; they are phys- ics-based principles that come from the Construction Safety Research Alliance. Secondly, I have a saying: “Where fo-


cus goes, energy flows.” Construction has REALLY started focusing on the hazards that can seriously harm and kill – what


“I have a saying: ‘Where focus goes, energy flows.’ Construction has REALLY started focusing on the hazards that can seriously harm and kill – what some call STCKY. If and when we are able to eliminate serious injuries and fatalities across all industries, it will partly be because the construction industry said, ‘Enough is enough.’ They’ve been leading the way for some time.”


– JASON KUNZ


some call STCKY. Not the hazards that can cause paper cuts and ankle sprains. Construction has set its sights on


identifying, prioritizing, and controlling the hazards that can seriously harm or kill, doing so with proven methods such as effective pre-task planning to verify safeguards and controls, evolving its metrics, and emphasizing EBS strategies such as the Energy Wheel and HECA (High-Energy Control Assessment – a standardized safety metric and obser- vation process used to measure frontline worker protection against life-threatening, high-energy hazards.) If and when we are able to eliminate serious injuries and fatalities across all industries, it will partly be because the construction industry said, “Enough is enough.” Tey’ve been leading the way for some time. Finally, I had a conversation the oth-


er day with an executive at a national subcontractor based in Minnesota. She said that a few of her superintendents still say things like, “I need you to leave your problems at the gate.” She called it a 1980s leadership mentality. Tese outdated styles are by far the minority now. She was particularly impressed with


how frontline and front office leaders in construction have been willing to evolve their own leadership styles, practices, and beliefs. These “soft” skills, as we used to call them, are more essential than ever in the modern and future of work of construction, and leaders are more willing to embrace new styles of leading, and leading well.


CALIFORNIA CONSTRUCTOR: Con- struction has traditionally been seen as slower to change than other industries. What sparked this shift toward more effectively addressing workplace safety, in your opinion?


JASON KUNZ: First, anytime a leader sneezes, somebody is going to catch the cold. What I mean is that leadership cre- ates culture, and culture drives behavior. If you’re an executive or senior leader in construction, you’re probably a very in- telligent, driven individual. Construction leaders started thinking, behaving, and acting differently because they recog- nized what was needed. They noticed the SIF problem was unacceptable. Tey acknowledged we were underserving


CALIFORNIA CONS CONSTRUCTOR NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2026 2026 7


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