Effective October 1, 2026, MIOSHA is implementing Agency Instruction MIOSHA-COM-26-1, a new State Emphasis Program (SEP) focused on contact fatalities. MIOSHA created the program after contact fatalities increased to 30 in 2025; as of July 26, 2026, 18 contact fatalities accounted for 86% of all MIOSHA-covered fatalities reported at that point in the year.
MITA believes this emphasis program puts many MITA members directly in MIOSHA’s crosshairs. The agency instruction specifically directs Construction Safety and Health Division officers, when scheduling programmed inspections, to give priority to worksites with greater potential for contact hazards – including heavy civil construction, roadway construction and maintenance, site preparation, land clearing, demolition, and roadway work where employees are close to moving traffic.
The instruction also permits MIOSHA safety officers and industrial hygienists to self-initiate inspections when they observe contact hazards that could cause serious injury or death, including observations made during normal workday travel or while traveling to or conducting other inspections. For construction, MIOSHA’s existing targeting instruction also allows an on-site inspection when an officer sees contact hazards while traveling in the officer’s work area.
The message to our membership is straightforward: the work MITA contractors perform every day falls squarely within the operations MIOSHA has identified for increased attention. Members should expect contact hazards to receive heightened scrutiny and should prepare their job sites accordingly.
WHAT MIOSHA MEANS BY “CONTACT FATALITIES”
The SEP broadly addresses incidents involving:
• Struck-by
• Struck-against
• Caught-in or between
• Crushed-by
• Cave-in
These hazards are common in roadway and heavy civil construction, particularly where employees work around moving equipment, live traffic, excavations, material handling, rigging, pinch points, backing operations, blind spots, and equipment swing or travel paths.
WHAT CHANGES UNDER THE EMPHASIS PROGRAM
This SEP does not create a new set of MIOSHA safety standards. MIOSHA states that there are no “Significant Changes” because this is a new agency instruction, and the agency notes that controlling contact hazards has long been part of its enforcement activity. What changes for contractors is the level of emphasis, targeting, awareness, and enforcement attention directed toward these hazards.
- Programmed construction inspections are to prioritize worksites with greater potential for contact hazards.
- MIOSHA personnel may self-initiate inspections after observing a serious contact hazard, even when they have no existing assignment for that employer or site.
- During a partial or unprogrammed inspection, potentially serious contact hazards that are observed or otherwise discovered can cause the inspection scope to be expanded.
- MIOSHA personnel are directed to encourage prompt correction of contact hazards while they are on site or soon afterward, rather than waiting until a citation abatement deadline.
- MIOSHA will review enforcement activity quarterly to determine whether a sufficient number of inspections are evaluating contact hazards and may modify the program if it determines the number is insufficient.
WHAT MITA MEMBERS SHOULD DO NOW
1. Look at every job through a contact-hazard lens.
Ask what could strike, crush, catch, pin, bury, or run over an employee today. Pay particular attention to the interface between employees, equipment, vehicles, materials, excavations, and traffic.
2. Build contact-hazard recognition into the daily JSA/pre-task process.
Identify where employees will work and where equipment, vehicles, materials, and other hazards will move. Where feasible, create separation rather than relying only on communication after workers and equipment occupy the same space.
3. Reevaluate traffic control as conditions change.
Roadway workers close to moving traffic are expressly identified in the SEP. Reassess controls when the work area, traffic pattern, employee location, equipment access, barriers, drums, signs, or other conditions change.
4. Review equipment and employee interaction.
Evaluate backing, blind spots, swing areas, travel paths, loading and unloading, exclusion zones, spotter practices, and operator/ground-worker communication.
5. Use competent persons to identify changing hazards.
For excavation work, evaluate contact hazards along with cave-in protection, including equipment near excavations, employee positioning, access and egress, spoil placement, changing conditions, and traffic exposure.
MITA IS PROVIDING MEMBERS WITH ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
To help members respond to this increased enforcement emphasis and reinforce awareness on their job sites, MITA has developed two additional resources for member companies:
- Jobsite Alertness & Situational Awareness Plan – A supplemental plan that members can incorporate into their existing Accident Prevention Program (APP). The plan is intended to reinforce job-site alertness, situational awareness, communication, and practices to reduce employee exposure to contact hazards.
- Contact Hazard Toolbox Talk – A ready-to-use toolbox talk that supervisors and foremen can use with crews to discuss struck-by, caught-in/between, crushed-by, equipment interaction, traffic exposure, and other contact hazards emphasized by MIOSHA.
MITA encourages members to review these materials with their safety personnel, supervisors, competent persons, and field crews and incorporate them into their existing safety efforts where appropriate.
A WORD FROM MITA SAFETY & COMPLIANCE
Contact hazards are not new to our industry, and neither are the standards that address them. What is new is the concentrated attention MIOSHA is directing toward these hazards and toward the types of projects our members perform. The agency’s own instruction makes clear that heavy civil and roadway work are priority areas under this program.
Our responsibility goes beyond preparing for an inspection. Experienced crews can become accustomed to traffic, equipment movement, backing operations, excavations, and other hazards they work around every day. We need to keep those hazards visible, keep employees engaged, and ensure that changing conditions are recognized before they become incidents.
Do not wait for a MIOSHA officer to identify the exposure. Walk the job. Talk with your crews. Correct what needs to be corrected. Reinforce separation between employees and moving hazards wherever possible. Make situational awareness part of how the job is planned and performed every day.
ASK THIS AT YOUR NEXT SAFETY MEETING
“What can strike, crush, catch, pin, bury, or run over one of our employees today – and what are we doing to prevent it?”
MITA CAN HELP
The MITA Safety Team is available to walk jobsites with supervisors and crews, help identify potential contact hazards, and discuss practical controls before an incident occurs or an inspection finding is made.
Please click here for the Jobsite Alertness & Situational Awareness Plan, or click here for the Contact Hazard Toolbox Talk.
For a jobsite visit or assistance with contact-hazard identification, contact Greg Brooks at Gregbrooks@thinkmita.org or Matt Moody at MattMoody@thinkmita.org. They can also be reached at the office by calling 517-347-8336.
