Backend Category: Safety Excellence Initiative

MCAA is committed to stemming our industry’s high suicide rates by breaking down the stigma surrounding mental health. Over the last year, MCAA partnered with the UA, NECA, SMACNA, and TAUC to distribute over 100k 988 awareness hard hat stickers and chips. At the same time, we built a comprehensive mental health program that includes dozens of toolbox talks and a world-class mental health awareness and suicide prevention video.

Additional stickers and chips are now available directly through the manufacturers of both. MCAA is pleased to say that both manufacturers employ union labor, and the chips and stickers carry the union label.

MCAA is committed to supporting our members’ mental health by spreading the word that “it’s okay to not be okay.” Resources like these will help our industry step up and change the culture of not speaking up when you have a problem. Not all injuries are visible. Not all trauma is evident. Your mental health matters.

If you have questions, please contact Raffi Elchemmas, MCAA’s Executive Director of Safety, Health, and Risk Management.

Today the White House announced a historic program targeting opioid overdoses. The White House Challenge to Save Lives from Overdose calls attention to construction industry efforts, including those of MCAA and our safety alliance partners at the National Electrical Contractors Association (NECA), Sheet Metal and Air Conditioning Contractors’ National Association (SMACNA), and The Association of Union Constructors (TAUC).

The announcement comes on the heels of the State of the Union address, which highlighted the efforts of overdose advocate Justin Phillips, who lost her son, Aaron, to an overdose. In 2015, Phillips worked with the Indiana legislature to pass a law giving laypersons, including family and friends of someone with a substance use disorder, access to naloxone without a prescription. 

In today’s announcement, the White House notes:

“Mechanical Contractors Association of America (MCAA), National Electrical Contractors Association (NECA), Sheet Metal and Air Conditioning Contractors’ National Association (SMACNA), and The Association of Union Constructors (TAUC) represent over 10,000 union contractors, providing employment for hundreds of thousands of skilled trade workers in the United States. These organizations, in collaboration with union partners, trained thousands of workers on substance use disorder and overdose prevention and distributed a limited quantity of naloxone. MCAA, NECA, SMACNA, and TAUC endorse having naloxone at all construction sites and urge employers to make the lifesaving medication available to their workforce.”

MCAA and our safety alliance partners have been working together to tackle our industry’s opioid overdose epidemic in coordination with White House staff. Meetings with White House staff have focused on coordinating industry access to naloxone.

“MCAA is honored to be a part of this historic initiative,” said Raffi F. Elchemmas, MCAA’s Executive Director of Safety, Health and Risk Management. He added, “Together with our safety alliance partners, MCAA strongly endorses the continuation of creating awareness of and engagement in solutions to the opioid epidemic such as having naloxone on construction sites and making the lifesaving medication available to the workforce.”

During the annual Safety & Health Conference in Tucson, AZ, MCAA and MILWAUKEE TOOL announced the winner of the 2023 Safety Professional of the Year as Mark Rook of AMS Industries.

Each year, this award is presented to a mechanical industry safety and health professional who has led their company to achieving an exceptionally high degree of safety excellence.

Mark has been a longtime national safety and health advocate and industry leader, volunteering his time and experience to both national and local committees. His work to advance worker safety has helped create safer jobsites around the country. He is the Safety Director at AMS Industries outside Chicago, IL.

“Mark has been a mentor to many safety professionals and is always the first to offer his guidance on best practices for safety in the mechanical industry. He is very deserving of this once in a lifetime recognition,” said Raffi Elchemmas, MCAA’s Executive Director of Safety, Health, and Risk Management.

In addition to the announcement at the Safety & Health Conference, Mark will be receiving this award at the MCAA24 convention in Orlando, FL, in March 2024.

MCAA congratulates Mark Rook and AMS Industries.

Mental Health Awareness and Suicide Prevention Video available to all in English & Spanish

The Mechanical Contractors Association of America (MCAA) is proud to announce the creation and distribution of one its most requested safety & health resources to the public, a 22-minute mental health awareness and suicide prevention video.

“Construction has one of the highest rates of death by suicide of all industries in the United States, about four times higher than the general population,” said Robert Beck, MCAA President. “Rethinking how our industry approaches mental health will have immediate impacts.”

MCAA has long touted a 20-year track record of safety excellence and loudly voiced a commitment to make job sites safer for the mechanical industry and all construction workers nationwide.

“Today’s announcement is a culmination of years of planning and development, and is a win for employers, workers, families, and for safety & health”, said Raffi Elchemmas, MCAA Executive Director of Safety, Health & Risk Management. “As one of the industry’s leaders in safety & health it is our responsibility to share our knowledge and resources on this topic and we are proud to do it.”

Historically, MCAA safety & health resources have been made available exclusively to MCAA members, but today, in a first-of-its-kind move, MCAA shares one of the most impactful videos with the industry and general public, Mental Health Awareness and Suicide Prevention.

In a statement, the United Association (UA) General President, Mark McManus, said “Our joint investment to spread awareness and normalize conversations around this issue could be one of the biggest opportunities to impact safety and health across our entire industry today. Mental health has a personal impact on so many people; everyone has a story; everyone is dealing with things on and off the jobsite.”

The public video can be found at YouTube.com/@MCAAmerica or directly here in English or Spanish.

For more information, please visit mcaa.org.

About the Mechanical Contractors Association of America

The Mechanical Contractors Association of America (MCAA) represents approximately 2,600 heating, air conditioning, refrigeration, plumbing, piping, and mechanical service firms, who employ more than 375,000 union workers nationwide for 132 years. MCAA’s mission is to guide and support member success to build a stronger, more sustainable future for the mechanical contracting industry. Through member-driven resources, comprehensive education, and strategic partnerships, we empower members to shape a future of unparalleled innovation and growth.

Over the last decade, the MCAA Safety Excellence Initiative has seen a lot of changes. The industry has changed, PPE has changed, and even the rules we follow from OSHA have changed, but at MCAA one thing has remained constant, Tracy Haus. Tracy joined MCAA’s national Safety & Health Committee years ago and has led this committee as its chair for over a decade.

As Tracy’s chair term comes to an end, we’d like to thank him for his years of service and recognize the work that he, his team, and Baker Group have put into MCAA to make it what it is today. On behalf of the past and current MCAA Boards of Directors, MCAA’s national staff, and contractors all over the country, Thank you, Tracy!

One of the most important videos in the MCAA Safety & Health resource collection is now available in Spanish. Over the last several years, MCAA members have increasingly requested our safety videos in Spanish, and that comes as no surprise. Data shows that 34% of construction workers are Spanish speakers, the largest of any industry in the U.S. The fatality rate for Hispanic construction workers remains higher than that for non-Hispanics, but with resources like these MCAA is working to bridge that gap.

This new resource follows the launch of six Spanish-language videos in 2023.

MCAA’s current Spanish-language training videos, or their English-language counterparts, are:

• Mental Health Awareness & Suicide Prevention Video  Spanish | English

• New Worker Safety Orientation Video  Spanish | English
• PPE Series – Head Protection Video  Spanish | English
• PPE Series – Hearing Protection Video  Spanish | English
• PPE Series – Eye Protection Video  Spanish | English
• PPE Series – Respiratory Protection Video  Spanish | English
• PPE Series – Hand Protection Video  Spanish | English

MCAA will continue to add additional Spanish-language safety resources throughout 2024 to help ensure the safety of all our industry’s workers.

Have questions? Please reach out to MCAA’s Raffi Elchemmas.

MCAA has joined forces with the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) to offer resources and tools customized and curated to specifically address and mitigate risks related to electrical safety posed to MCAA members, including physical, compliance and financial risks. Crafted by NFPA’s trusted subject matter experts, this content will provide actionable information and strategies to help you and your team keep pace with the ever-changing regulatory environment, identify potential hazards and shortfalls, and markedly improve safety for your employees, customers, and their workplaces and communities.

Depending on your needs and goals, we offer different levels of educational programs from introductory to more in-depth and on-going programming—and it’s all at a discounted rate.

See the brochure for offerings and discounts, then request more information at nfpa.org/mcaa-nfpa.

If you have questions that aren’t addressed here, please contact Raffi Elchemmas.

Over the last several years, MCAA members have increasingly requested our safety videos in Spanish, and that comes as no surprise. Data show that 34% of construction workers are Spanish speakers, the largest of any industry in the U.S. The fatality rate for Hispanic construction workers remains higher than that for non-Hispanics, but with resources like these MCAA is working to bridge that gap.

MCAA is committed to being a leader in safety and health, and that means making sure that all of our industry’s workers remain safe. We are doing this by incorporating diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in safety training.

Enjoy these Spanish-language training videos, or their English-language counterparts, now:

• New Worker Safety Orientation Video  Spanish | English
• PPE Series – Head Protection Video  Spanish | English
• PPE Series – Hearing Protection Video  Spanish | English
• PPE Series – Eye Protection Video  Spanish | English
• PPE Series – Respiratory Protection Video  Spanish | English
• PPE Series – Hand Protection Video  Spanish | English

Be on the lookout for additional Spanish-language safety resources going forward.

Have questions? Please reach out to MCAA’s Raffi Elchemmas.