CONSTRUCTION ACCIDENT SAFETY COURSES

Texas Mutual Insurance Company and Midland College have collaborated to offer free workplace safety classes to Texas professionals. For the sixth year, Texas Mutual Insurance Company has offered Midland College a $100,000 grant for its Risk Management Institute to help prevent construction accidents.Since the Risk Management Institute opened in 2006, almost 2,000 people have taken advantage of the 75 different free courses that the institute has offered. Barry Horseman, director of Midland College Workforce Training, believes that it helps to curb workplace injuries at construction and excavation sites in Texas.  The Risk Management Institute tries to focus the courses around specific subjects—particularly in the gas and oil industry, where professionals in that area compose approximately 70 percent of Midland’s students.Work-related deaths have been on the decline recently.  There were 4,340 reported workplace deaths on 2009, down from 5,840 in 2006, according to mywesttexas.com.  Horseman concedes that this is likely due to unemployment and a lull in construction projects, and he believes that there will be an increase when the jobs pick back up.  “Historically, the first 90 days of employment are when most accidents occur,” Horseman said.  Approximately 12 percent of work place deaths in 2009 were construction worker deaths.Among the courses that the institute will offer this year are first aid, drug and alcohol awareness, lock out/tag out standards, occupational health, safety administration, driver safety, fall protection and ladder safety.According to Horseman, near-misses are much more common.  He believes that the courses Midland College is offering will help to raise awareness of construction safety and can help to prevent many of the construction accidents.