With the construction industry projected to need 439,000 new workers in 2025—and even more the following year—companies are facing a significant balancing act: hiring at scale without compromising the hard-won gains in workplace safety.

That tension was the focal point of a recent roundtable hosted by the Kansas City Business Journal, where local safety experts gathered to discuss how safety is evolving on job sites. Moderated by Sales Director Melanie Clark, the conversation highlighted proactive strategies in workforce development, mental health integration, and the role of leadership and technology in building a safety-first culture.

The Meaning Behind Safety

Clark began by asking participants what drives their commitment to safety.

“Safety is the thing you do that has a direct impact on the well-being of your people,” said Michele Roberts-Bauer of the Associated Builders and Contractors, Heart of America Chapter. “Establishing a strong safety culture and empowering people to make safe, healthy decisions impacts them at work and at home, and I would argue it’s one of the most important things we do for our people.”

Mike Langford of Ronco Construction agreed, emphasizing the human impact: “If you care about people, you want them to go home to their family and friends every single day. We have a unique opportunity in safety to impact people’s lives and improve people’s lives, and not just from a monetary standpoint.”

Recruitment and Retention: A Safety Concern

The industry’s labor shortage was top of mind for many. “Getting the right people out there to build it is the challenge,” said James Robles of JE Dunn Construction. “That’s been a pretty heavy topic the last couple years.”

Chris Tschida of McCownGordon Construction detailed the steps his firm is taking: “We’re working with our field craft to create a more robust onboarding process to ensure a certain level of knowledge and skill from the start.”

Kaleb Whelan of Turner Construction highlighted another hurdle: “You also fight a struggle with people that have been doing it for 30 years, and you’re trying to change a mindset. That can be just as challenging at times.”

Workforce Development Starts Early

Langford pointed to a critical need to build awareness of trade careers among youth: “We’re starting to target not only the high schools, but the junior highs… to get them to spark that interest.”

Roberts-Bauer echoed that sentiment, noting that mastery takes time: “These are skilled trades that take years to perfect… you can’t turn them into a journey-level or master-craft professional overnight. We need time.”

Tschida added that changing perceptions about the industry is essential: “We also need to show the benefits of joining this ever-changing industry — not view it as a fallback.”

Building a Culture of Accountability

True safety, participants said, has to come from leadership.

“It has to be owned from the top,” Robles said. “It can’t just be a poster on the wall… it has to be true ownership from the top down.”

Langford added, “It’s leadership presence, and then it’s safety by influence, not just instruction.”

Whelan stressed the importance of accountability: “When we set the hard line from a leadership perspective… that makes its way down to your foreman and your general foreman, and they really own that crew and own that process.”

Tschida added, “Everyone has a ‘why do I work safe’ reason — family, friends, loved ones… By making it personal, we can get that commitment.”

Training That Sticks

Training, the panel agreed, must be comprehensive and role-specific.

“One of the things we made mandatory… was the safety culture training, no matter if you’re in our office or out in the field,” Robles shared.

Whelan explained how his company connects training to leadership development: “It’s training on how we expect the culture to be on our projects… on how to encourage the people around them to perform better.”

Langford noted that their onboarding begins with safety: “Our first four hours is 100 percent safety and culture… regardless of the silo or the discipline.”

Technology’s Growing Role

New tech tools are helping improve safety outcomes across job sites.

Langford highlighted their all-in-one safety app: “The No. 1 priority for that app is real-time awareness — for weather, for site updates… anything that we can blast to all of our employees in a matter of seconds.”

Whelan added that digitizing permits has streamlined compliance: “People are more likely to do it if it’s easier to access.”

Roberts-Bauer pointed out that affordability is no longer a barrier: “One of my members… can upload safety notes and elements of their safety manual and put together a podcast… It’s incredibly accessible now.”

Robles underscored the transformative potential: “This is an exciting time where we can leverage AI… and pretty much eliminate most risks that we can face on a project.”

Embedding Safety from Day One

Proactive planning is key to avoiding future safety issues.

“We meet with the clients… our operators… and our trade partners… before that first shovel hits the ground,” Robles said.

Tschida described their step-by-step risk planning approach: “We start to pre-plan in several phases very early on in the process.”

Langford emphasized preconstruction safety planning: “Ninety percent of the success of every project starts before we ever put a shovel in the ground.”

Whelan said focusing on “small tasks” has proven just as vital: “We’ve seen a tremendous amount of success… it pays dividends on the back end.”

Mental Health Now Part of the Safety Equation

As the industry begins to address mental health more seriously, leaders are seeing a shift.

“It’s been a huge initiative,” said Roberts-Bauer. “Maybe seven, eight years ago, you started hearing about mental health… and it’s my firm belief that COVID really sped that process up.”

Originally reported by Kansas City Business Journal.