To ensure that construction and maintenance workers can return home safely to their families, friends, and communities, the Coalition for Construction Safety (CCS), a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization, is devoted to the elimination of jobsite accidents and injuries by helping enhance workers’ general health and well-being. Striving to improve and secure the industry, every member, program participant, and CCS volunteer aids in achieving that objective.
Created by a group of experts in the construction industry in 1992 as the Metro Indianapolis Coalition for Construction Safety (MICCS) to increase safety in Central Indiana, the Board of Directors decided in 2014 to remove the “MI” from the organization’s name in order to more accurately represent its membership and reach, as the group had grown and now has members in over 35 states.
Workers on construction and maintenance jobsites can face a number of hazardous working circumstances, but one that isn’t talked about enough is alcohol and other drug use. In response, CCS’ Substance Abuse Program is designed to give contractors a tool for creating and preserving a drug- and alcohol-free workplace that is safe and healthy. Created by CCS to offer a number of advantages to the regional building sector, the program aims to reduce the amount of work that would need to be duplicated between various substance abuse programs if this industry-wide initiative wasn’t in place; set minimal requirements for contractors’ substance abuse programs; and help owners and contractors create drug abuse rules that will improve worker safety for everyone on the job site.
“CCS is a charitable organization, although we look like a trade association, and our sole purpose is construction safety and the safety of construction workers,” explains Marcy Watson, Executive Director.
To that end, CCS created a model substance abuse program that ensures that workers on job sites are substance abuse free. Individual workers are issued CCS cards with a unique card number and a corresponding QR code. Results are tracked through its online portal, CCS Safesite. Card managers can check to see if a worker is available, meaning they have passed a drug test in the last 12 months.
CCS has seven reciprocal programs that are a part of the CCS program. These programs meet or exceed the CCS model program. By including all programs, it prevents workers from having to have multiple drug tests. It also saves owners and contractors money as they do not have to pay for multiple tests.
About 60,000 active cards are in the system and are recognized throughout the U.S., with a concentration east of the Mississippi River including Indiana, the Carolinas, Florida, and around the Midwest.
If a worker fails a test, the process to be reinstated includes meeting with a substance abuse professional who will then make a recommendation for follow-up or treatment, depending on what the drug is and if it’s a first offense. Once the employee has gone through the mandated requirements of the substance abuse professional, they can retest and be reinstated if their results are negative. Often there is a requirement to retest more frequently over the year after testing positive, but in any case, a clean result means they can get back to work.
“I think a lot of times people think our program is intended to be punitive and that’s not the case. We’re just trying to keep everybody safe and address any substance abuse issues workers may have,” she says. “Over the last few years, I think we’ve all recognized there are a lot of mental health issues, and that ties in with some potential substance abuse disorders,” she says. “We want to help those people get the help they need and get them back to work.”
The construction industry has one of the highest suicide rates among professions—with the rate among male construction workers 75 percent higher than men in the general population, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. An estimated 6,000 construction workers died by suicide in 2022, an increase from 2021, according to the most recent data available. That compares to around 1,000 who died from a construction work-related injury.
“We’ve looked into what causes that and I think there are a lot of different reasons,” Watson says. “There’s the tough guy image of the construction worker [who may be reticent to discuss health issues] and if they’re injured and aren’t able to work, that can really impact mental health.”
The devastating effects of the opioid crisis have also contributed to today’s substance abuse issues, she adds, with many injured workers being prescribed drugs and then became addicted. “I think that’s changing a lot now, but it’s had an impact on people’s mental well-being, and so we’re trying to do more educational events to reduce the stigma around mental health and substance abuse disorders.”
If there is one positive that came out of the pandemic, she says, it’s that people recognize it’s okay to talk about mental health and seek the help needed whether it’s minor or something major.
“We’re trying to do more in that area to help our members recognize that a lot of people want help, but they don’t know how to find it,” Watson says. “We’re trying to offer more training and education on how to recognize it, what to do if someone has an issue, and how to get people connected to the resources they need.”
Protecting employee privacy throughout is also paramount. At a construction sector roundtable conference earlier this year, a mental health self-check-in system created by Jacobs called One Million Lives was discussed and shared. Available for anyone to use, the website offers two different anonymous mental health assessments to help the user self-assess via a set of questions, before pointing them in a direction to access help.
All of these plans of action show a shift in thinking, Watson says, particularly in a traditionally male-dominated industry where talking about mental health and substance abuse issues hasn’t always been supported. “I do think we’re seeing it a lot more, and we’re hearing a lot more about contractors wanting to be there for their employees. We’re seeing more people seeking help, or at least talking about issues they might have.”
While CCS doesn’t offer any of its own assistance programs, it aims to guide people to the right facilities, whether for substance abuse or mental wellness, or to access a variety of resources that provide the help needed.
Along with substance abuse and mental wellness initiatives, CCS prides itself on continually raising the bar on contractor safety performance over the past 30 years. The CCS Certification Program serves to recognize companies with high levels of safety success and provide an easily accessible, standardized safety program review, allowing construction consumers—building owners—along with contractors to prequalify subcontractors for safety standards.
“We offer a certification program which is a safety program evaluation that is reviewed by our safety director,” says Watson. “He works with our members to assist them in improving their safety programs and performance.”
Scores are based on criteria that have been established over the years by owners, contractors, and safety professionals. The program has three different levels based on safety program criteria and OSHA statistics. Companies are required to go through regular audits to ensure that the contractor is following their program.
CCS has a partnership with the Indiana Department of Labor where contractors who attain “Certified” status in the CCS Certification Program can sign an agreement to be a part of the partnership. Companies who reach this highest level meet all OSHA requirements plus have 50 percent of the best practice criteria for their scope of work.
“Being a CCS-IDOL Certified Partner means you go above and beyond OSHA requirements with your safety program,” Watson says. “It’s not just a manual on a shelf; we actually make sure they’re doing what they say they’re doing.”
There are currently about 100 companies in the certified partnership with the Indiana Department of Labor, she adds, and the program has made a difference.
“Construction recordables and injuries have significantly dropped over the last 30 years in Indiana. While CCS is not the only reason for the decrease, we do think it’s been a contributing factor to the reduction of injuries and illnesses, and our members are statistically safer than the national average, when you look at their DART rate, their recordable rate, and even their EMR.”
Companies in the partnership must submit their OSHA statistics every month and provide CCS with a list of any recordables they have had to allow monitoring of trends. Each month, the CCS Safety Director Gary Martin sends a report to the Indiana Department of Labor as well as to all participants. The report includes aggregated data for all certified partners along with a toolbox talk with suggestions and tips on how to stay on top of issues before they become serious hazards.
CCS is also working diligently to help potential employees who aren’t even working in the industry yet. “One of the things we’re trying to have an impact on—that ties in with the substance abuse—is the workforce shortage our industry is experiencing with about 1,200 individuals failing a pre-employment drug test each year,” Watson says. “We’re trying to identify ways to reach out to those individuals to connect them with a substance abuse professional to get them reinstated so they can be gainfully employed in the construction industry.”
CCS is piloting a program right now with the ultimate goal of helping those individuals, she adds, because if you’re not under an employer or a union program and you’re applying for a job and fail a drug test, you’re likely left to your own devices to navigate that process to connect with the resources needed to be able to work.
“It’s not something a lot of people probably know how to do,” says Watson. “We’re trying to be that facilitator, but we’re still trying to figure out exactly how to best make that work. It’s something we would really like to have an impact on—to help those people get the help they need and then also keep them working in our industry.”
While CCS’s mission statement previously encompassed sending workers home safely every day, the CCS Board of Directors revised it in 2023 to better reflect the mental well-being aspect of health and safety.
“Our mission is improving the overall health and well-being of construction workers, to send them home in the same condition or better every day,” Watson says. “I think that surrounds the mental wellness we’re trying to have an impact on. For so long we focused on safety and health, and mental health falls under that category. I think that’s something our organization and our industry is really starting to recognize.”
