Skanska is investing $200,000 in workshops and seminars this year for supervisors and key subcontractors. "The idea that injuries on construction sites are acceptable as long as the overall numbers of recordable injuries are kept below established federal standards no longer is acceptable," says Skanska division president Dwight Morgan.

Companies such as Skanska that adopt the Injury-Free Environment philosophy "ultimately will save money because its job sites will be safer and cleaner, and workers will look out for each other every day," Morgan says. "But that's secondary," he says of the potential cost savings. "The first and most important thing is that safety is a primary focus."

Samuel L. Gude, an executive vice president at Skanska USA Building, says an injury-free concept is "not a set of goals or something measurable. Instead, it's an attitude and part of a culture. Injury-free is a value everyone in the company shares."