Wisconsin construction safety panel addresses OSHA staffing, labor shortage and training

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This year’s construction safety webinar focused on the need for skilled trades workers as more new apprentices joined the industry and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration showed signs of slowing down.

Ethan Duran of The Daily Reporter on Tuesday sat down with Don Moen of Associated Builders and Contractors of Wisconsin and Dan Burazin of the Associated General Contractors of Greater Milwaukee for the 2026 Hard Hat Safety Forum. The two shared information about the state of construction safety in Wisconsin.

One point brought up on the panel built on last year’s prediction on limited staffing at OSHA, which has faced closures and skeleton crews because of government shutdowns and lack of funding over the past year. The agency still has power with its citations and emphasis programs, and safety on the contractor side has been tougher as new people come into the trades, Burazin said.

“For accidents, we’re about the same (as last year),” Burazin said. “That has to do not so much with OSHA but with contractors themselves taking initiative to make sure somebody’s watching over some of these people, mentors if you will, to make sure these guys and gals have someone they can turn to.”

Burazin said safety will have to come from the contractor’s side. “Just because the government shuts down does not mean we have to take a back seat on safety,” he added.

Last year, ABC of Wisconsin met with Secretary of Labor Lori Chavez-DeRemer at a job site in Mequon as part of the secretary’s goal to talk with trades people in 50 states. ABC also met with OSHA in November in the start of its fiscal year.

Moen said agency officials wanted to focus more on small business and listen to stakeholders to see how they can be more effective. “They want collaboration amongst everybody,” he added.

Around eight years ago, OSHA had five compliance assistants that worked with companies across the state – but the last one retired this past year. The agency opted to hire inspectors, “but that’s more reactive,” than assistants who could train others, Moen said.

Safety experts agreed advanced training helped keep fatality numbers low

There were five workplace fatalities in Wisconsin construction in the past year compared to around 500 across the U.S.

Moen and Burazin agreed that one fatality was one too many, but the advanced training for the trades and associations has reflected in reduced accident numbers.

Hiring more people is a larger burden on companies and in-house safety people, but safety infrastructure such as toolbox talks are still valuable and growing in the state, Moen said.

Falls are the number one safety issue OSHA is looking for with amputations in second, although the latter usually occurs in general industry, Moen said. One prediction Moen made was that OSHA’s proposed federal heat standard will not come into play. However, OSHA will have a emphasis program and ABC will train heat again with its members.

“As an emphasis program, we need to make sure it’s being done,” he added.

Trenching, hex chrome, silica and asbestos were among the other safety risks OSHA was looking for, Moen said.

Influx of apprentices and safety training are together

Safety moving forward will continue to involve the shortage of workers and safety professionals especially as Wisconsin megaprojects such as data centers use more human capital driven by the owners’ requirements, Burazin said.

Projects such as the OpenAI and Oracle data center in Port Washington, Eli Lilly & Co. in Kenosha County and Microsoft in Mount Pleasant were “deluged with requirements for trades people and safety personnel,” Burazin noted.

Burazin credited construction unions for doing much of the apprenticeship training and by extension safety training for new workers. Apprentices gain a lot of knowledge on topics, but they experience as well. “With job sites so busy, that’s a challenge,” he added.

“We want to train our people, but we need to get the job done. So, there’s a delicate balance of making sure people are getting information as needed,” Burazin said.

ABC of Wisconsin had around 2,500 apprentices and that number is expected to grow, as the association bought a new training facility in the Madison area, Moen said. ABC provides its own safety training and monitors its own safety surveys and research on accidents.

One study in the state of Washington showed some job sites were slightly safer with apprentices and journeyworkers working together than not, Moen added.

“Our industry is growing fast and we want the safest person out there… With safety training and oversight, it’s still safer, in my opinion, to put an apprentice out there than a non-apprentice, that may not have had the training above and beyond what the company does,” Moen said.

To watch a replay of the webinar, go to dailyreporter.com/event/hard-hat-safety-forum