Construction Industry Perspectives Op-Ed: Extending the safety culture to end racism
he initial response from industry leaders to recent acts of racism on Ontario construction jobsites was swift and clear: there is no place for racism in our industry.
And at least one of the specific companies involved has taken concrete steps to ensure such incidents never occur on one of their projects again.
But what will it take to address racism across the industry? No construction executive I know is naive enough to think that a few sternly worded social media posts and a toolbox talk are enough to eradicate this blight from the industry for good. It will take an intentional, united and sustained effort from all corners of construction to end racism and prejudice of any kind.
The good news is that we know what it takes to bring about this kind of culture change in Ontario construction because we have done it before.
In the wake of tragedies such as Hogg’s Hollow in the 1960s, industry leaders — labour, employers, owners, and government — came together and over time ushered in a massive transformation of workplace safety in construction.
No one for a second would suggest that everything is now perfect, but it is undeniable that through continuous collaboration Ontario’s construction sector has made an enormous shift in its approach to workplace safety: from loosely enforced compliance to a broadly-embraced culture of care for the way things get built in this province.
And the shift from safety compliance to safety culture has paid dividends. Ontario’s construction industry is profoundly safer today than it was a generation ago.
In recent weeks, construction has experienced another tragic wakeup call. High profile acts of racism have exposed a terrible burden that too many in the industry have silently carried with them until now.
We are kidding ourselves if we think these are isolated incidents. We owe it to people of colour and all minority communities, both within the industry and outside of it, to extend the culture of safety in all its forms to all people within construction, and most especially our racialized colleagues and co-workers.