In its second year, Construction Inclusion Week doubles in size

Abstract

Dive Brief: Construction's unified response to racism in the industry is growing stronger. Twice as many construction firms plan to participate in the second annual Construction Inclusion Week, the industry's grassroots effort to stamp out racist incidents and hate on jobsites. A total of 2,345 companies registered for the event, which runs Oct. 17-21, nearly double the 1,200 firms that took part in its inaugural outing last year, according to Turner Construction, one of the event's six founding companies. The groundswell shows a growing buy-in to combating the racist events that have plagued jobsites in the sector, said Turner CEO Peter Davoren. The event's website includes a guide that participants can download to map out activities, toolbox talks and events they can run at their own companies and jobsites. The event's founding companies stress it isn't a conference, but rather an industry-wide effort to foster safe spaces for difficult conversations, provide educational insights and promote a more inclusive construction industry. Modeled on the past success of Safety Week, which helped dramatically bring down recordable incidents on jobsites since its founding in 2004, Construction Inclusion Week aims to do the same with bias-motivated events, according to its founders.