Las Vegas NowUNLV Training to Focus on Construction Accidents

UNLV Training to Focus on Construction Accidents

LAS VEGAS, Nv. -- A new UNLV program will focus on fall prevention at construction sites. UNLV says more than a third of the construction workers who died in the last five years fell to their deaths.

Funding for the new program comes about one week after the federal government released a report saying Nevada OSHA is failing to do its job resulting in a rash of fatal construction accidents on the Las Vegas Strip.

As they stand on scaffolding, take measurements, and hang drywall, it's hard to tell these students aren't on a real construction site. Although this is just a mock setup, students know the reality that awaits them at big projects like CityCenter.

"Its havoc over there. It's crazy. It's a lot of buildings and it just means its a quick pace. It's pretty dangerous," said Brian Tobon with the Southern Nevada Carpenters Training Center.

Students say the rash of deaths at CityCenter was a wake-up call. As they train to work on commercial projects, they say they're also learning why taking safety seriously by not cutting corners. Speaking up can really make a difference. "If one of your brothers is doing something that could hurt him or somebody around him, its your responsibility to call him on it and say what you're doing, you're either going to hurt yourself or somebody else," said Tobon.

Although workers already get 10-hours of safety training, UNLV was just awarded a grant by OSHA to provide eight more. UNLV says the program will be open to all construction workers, but they're focusing on Hispanics, a group that tends to receive less training but more injuries.

"Their cultural beliefs, they defer to authority. So they have a hard time speaking up and saying, ‘I don't want to work further without taking some steps to protect my safety.' So we're going to build assertiveness training into it," said UNLV Professor Nancy Menzel.

After watching the death toll skyrocket during the construction boom, UNLV hopes the program becomes a proactive way to keep construction workers in Las Vegas safe.

UNLV says the program will focus on role-playing. For example, instead of just showing pictures of what could go wrong, construction workers will have to actually put on safety gear as they also feel pressed for time, possibly don't understand English, or have to use damaged equipment.