Memorial Day 2026: Honoring Those Who Served and the Workers Who Don't Come Home
- Chris Fredette
- 2 days ago
- 2 min read
Today we remember the men and women who gave everything in service to this country. No words do that sacrifice justice. We just try to hold it.
In the construction and industrial safety world, Memorial Day carries a particular weight. Because alongside the veterans we honor today, we also think about the workers who don't come home from job sites. The people who left for work on an ordinary Tuesday and didn't come back. The families who got a call they weren't expecting.
In 2024, 1,069 construction workers died on the job in the United States. That's roughly three workers every day. Every one of those deaths left behind a family, a crew, a foreman who had to make a phone call. Those losses don't make the news the way they should. But they are real, and they are happening constantly.
The reason I do this work is the same reason the people I respect most in this industry do it. Not because of compliance requirements or recordable rates or insurance premiums. Because a worker going home at the end of a shift is the baseline expectation, and when it doesn't happen, something has failed at a fundamental level.
The service members we honor today made a choice to put themselves in harm's way for something larger than themselves. Most construction workers don't make that choice. They go to work to provide for their families. The hazards on a job site are not part of a chosen mission. They're conditions that we as an industry are responsible for controlling.
The best way to honor both groups is the same: take the mission seriously. Don't let familiarity breed complacency. Don't move the schedule ahead of the safety plan. Don't let the conversation about hazards get skipped because it's been a quiet few weeks.
To every service member and veteran: thank you. To every construction worker, superintendent, safety manager, and foreman who shows up every day with the intention of bringing their crew home: thank you too. The work matters.
Happy Memorial Day.