“When Seconds Matter”: Why Construction Needs Better Decision-Making During Emergencies

Clear roles, realistic drills and supervisors who back protective action can help construction workers respond quickly and safely in the first moments of an emergency.

• By Cory Sherman
• Nov 13, 2026

A worker collapses near an excavation. One person moves toward him, as another looks for the superintendent. A third assumes someone has already called 911. Nearby, a crew continues working, unaware of what has happened.

In those first moments, the eventual outcome may depend on decisions made by people who have little information and no time to study a procedure.

Construction companies put considerable effort into preventing emergencies. But when prevention fails, another capability becomes essential: helping people recognize danger, choose an appropriate response and act without creating additional casualties.

That capability requires more than just a written plan; it requires preparing for how people actually behave when something goes wrong.

The Hesitation Before Action

Emergencies do not always announce themselves clearly. A strange smell, an unfamiliar sound or a coworker exhibiting unusual behavior may have several plausible explanations. Workers must decide whether they are seeing a serious threat or an ordinary disruption.

That uncertainty is what creates room for delay. Someone may wait for a supervisor to confirm the danger, while others may take their cues from nearby workers. If everyone appears calm, continuing to work can seem reasonable -- even when everyone is waiting for someone else to react.

Production expectations can complicate the decision. A worker who has repeatedly heard a task must be finished today may hesitate to interrupt it over a concern they cannot yet explain. The practical question for employers is whether workers know which specific conditions require immediate protective action and whether they are confident that management will support that action.

An emergency is a poor time to discover that responsibility is unclear. Who contacts emergency responders? Who provides the site address and access instructions? Who meets responders at the entrance? Who accounts for workers from different subcontractors? What happens if the superintendent is unavailable? These responsibilities need owners identified by name, designated backups and a shared understanding across the project.

OSHA's emergency preparedness guidance emphasizes communicating who is in charge, training workers in their individual responsibilities, as well as addressing evacuation and accountability procedures. For construction, it also recognizes that changing sites and workforces create particular challenges. The goal is to reduce the number of decisions people must invent under pressure. A worker should not have to negotiate responsibility for calling 911 while a colleague needs help.

Clear roles also establish boundaries. Knowing when to withdraw and leave intervention to trained responders is as important as knowing when to act.

Address the Instinct to Help

Seeing a coworker in danger creates a powerful urge to intervene. That instinct deserves respect, but it can also expose additional workers to the same hazard.

Consider a worker who collapses inside a confined space. A colleague may interpret the situation as a medical emergency and enter that space to help without recognizing that the atmosphere could be dangerous. The decision feels urgent and compassionate, yet it can turn one casualty into several.

Training must address that moment explicitly. Workers need to understand that approaching an injured person is not automatically safe, and that rescue requires the appropriate training, equipment and procedures. Simply telling people to "use good judgment" leaves too much unresolved. Discussing realistic situations beforehand gives them a chance to recognize the conflict between wanting to help immediately and helping safely.

A drill can demonstrate that workers know where to assemble but may reveal less about how they will respond when their usual route is blocked or their supervisor cannot be reached. Useful exercises introduce decisions: The primary exit is unavailable. A subcontractor cannot account for a worker. A person wants to return for a missing colleague. What happens next?

NIOSH uses this approach in emergency decision-making training for underground miners. Participants work through scenarios based on actual events, evaluate possible actions and compare their reasoning with expert responses and real outcomes. Construction employers can draw on that approach when designing their own exercises.

Short discussions during toolbox talks can expose uncertainty before a full drill. Ask workers to explain their first action and why they would take it. Their answers may reveal assumptions that a training attendance sheet would never capture. Workers learn how seriously to take safety instructions by watching what happens during ordinary work.

If supervisors dismiss concerns, discourage questions or criticize people for stopping a task, employees receive a message that can carry into an emergency. Written authority to act means little if exercising it routinely brings resistance. Leaders should explain the site's protective actions, reinforce workers' authority to raise concerns and respond constructively when someone identifies a possible threat.

"Does Everyone Understand?"

They also need to check understanding. Asking "Does everyone understand?" rarely reveals much; asking a worker to explain where they would go, whom they would contact and what they would do if that person were unavailable provides a clearer picture. Language differences, unfamiliar terminology and changing subcontractor crews make those conversations especially valuable.

A construction project can change faster than workers' mental picture of it. An access road moves. A stairway closes. Materials block a familiar path. A new crew arrives after the original orientation. Each change can undermine a decision that previously made sense. Emergency preparation should therefore be an integral element in ongoing project coordination, with updates translated into practical instructions workers can use.

After an exercise or incident, review where people hesitated, what information they lacked and which responsibilities overlapped. Treat those findings as opportunities to improve preparation rather than reasons to assign blame.

Construction cannot eliminate every uncertain moment, but it can make the first protective decisions clearer and more familiar. When seconds matter, workers need practiced judgment, clear-cut responsibilities and confidence that taking protective action will be supported by the people leading the project.