OSHA billboardPhoenix area residents are getting an eyeful of OSHA’s campaign to reduce construction industry falls in the form of billboards bearing stark personal messages, along with a reminder of the agency’s anti-fall motto: Plan. Provide. Train.

“I worked construction for ten years before my fall,” reads one, next to a photo of a worker. “It shattered my body and my livelihood.”

In 2010, 264 of the 774 fatalities in construction were attributed to falls, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).

The Phoenix billboard campaign was unveiled on Jan. 7 in a ceremony that included the agency’s Phoenix Area Office director Zachary Barnett, along with Phoenix Vice Mayor Bill Gates and representatives from a number of collaborating federal, state and local agencies.

"Falls are the leading cause of death in construction and these deaths are preventable," Barnett said.

Click here for information about OSHA's construction safety standards.

Campaign partners include the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, the City of Phoenix, Banner Health, Capital Safety, the American Society of Safety Engineers (ASSE), Arizona Business Association, ACTA Safety, National Safety Council, and the CPWR Center for Construction Research and Training.