Department of Labor to highlight safe construction work practices during 2025 National Safety Stand-Down to Prevent Falls

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration is encouraging construction industry employers and workers, across the nation, to take part in its 12th annual National Safety Stand-Down to Prevent Falls in Construction from May 5-9, 2025. This nationwide event spotlights preventing falls, the construction industry’s leading cause of worker deaths. 

Throughout the week, OSHA urges employers to pause during the workday to conduct “stand-down” activities, including safety demonstrations, hazard recognition and fall prevention training, and “tool-box” talks about hazards. Employers are also encouraged to have discussions about job-specific hazards, like roofing, ladder use, and working on scaffolds. 

Deputy Secretary of Labor Keith Sonderling will participate in the 2025 Stand-Down and provide remarks during an event at the National Institutes of Health campus in Bethesda, Maryland, where multiple construction and renovation projects are currently underway.

OSHA will publish a list of free, public events on its website to help employers and workers – both from the construction and other industries – find opportunities to get involved locally.

A cornerstone of OSHA’s Fall Prevention Campaign, the National Safety Stand-Down, was developed in partnership with The Center for Construction Research and Training. The event also coincides with Construction Safety Week and its National Safety Stand-Down Initiative to help prevent falls in construction. Since its launch in 2012, the initiative has helped train more than 10 million workers on fall prevention.

Learn more about OSHA and its national emphasis program to prevent workplace falls.