The American Society of Safety Professionals (ASSP) has published a Serious Injury and Fatality Prevention Convening Report following working sessions focused on preventing falls from height and lockout tagout failures.
More than 95 safety professionals and industry experts participated in two sessions held in Chicago and Washington, D.C. during Spring 2026.
Despite involving different participants and locations, both sessions reached a similar conclusion. ASSP said the prevention gap is not caused by a lack of safety regulations, but by difficulties translating complex standards into simple, visible and executable practices at the point of task.
Training and competency highlighted
The report summarises key themes, barriers and proposed solutions identified during the sessions.
Participants highlighted the operational value of safety, arguing that effective safety management protects workers while supporting business continuity.
The report also calls for greater emphasis on competency rather than completion, with hands on, task specific competency verification favoured over annual training focused primarily on completion.
Guidance needed at point of task
Another key finding concerns the accessibility of safety information. Workers need highly visible guidance, plain language instructions and pictograms positioned where workplace exposures occur.
Prevention through Design was also identified as an important approach, moving safety considerations upstream so hazards can be eliminated during the design phase rather than managed by frontline workers.
User groups to test solutions
ASSP’s Standards Based User Groups will now help validate the report’s findings, identify further implementation barriers and test practical approaches to applying consensus standards in workplaces.
Participants will evaluate potential corrective actions, pilot implementation approaches and measure their effectiveness using peer feedback, discussion and real world organisational experience.
ASSP said the groups will provide a structured mechanism for translating insights from the report into practical solutions designed to deliver meaningful safety outcomes.
