When defining the modern workforce in 2026, there are several different perspectives one could take.

In one sense, the modern workforce is made up of workers who want purpose-driven work in a diverse environment. They seek greater work-life integration through increasingly hybrid and remote work arrangements. Healthcare and 401(k)s are only the tip of the benefits iceberg, with pet insurance and student loan repayment becoming more the norm than the exception.

This workforce is technology-driven and operates on schedules that don’t conform to a traditional 9-5 model, with outcomes being more important than hours. Although a reality, this isn’t the modern workforce we’re concerned with during National Safety Month.

In another sense, the modern workforce increasingly consists of employees who are iPhone-native, were raised on Taylor Swift, and speak fluent emoji. They navigate social media with ease because their reality is a hybrid of digital and physical experiences. Many never saw Michael Jordan play and were born after the tragedy of 9/11. Their world is significantly different from the one that came before it, as is true of all generations. While this, too, is a reality, this isn’t the modern workforce we’re concerned with this National Safety Month.

A third perspective focuses on the complex, interconnected workforce made up of outsourced operations and contracted workers performing critical services offsite and navigating high-risk situations onsite while host organizations continue to bear the weight of reputational risk when challenges arise.

This offsite workforce is navigating customer support, data processing, and manufacturing of critical components all delivered just in time. Onsite work supports critical operational and facilities functions that maintain, restore, or expand business opportunities that are integral to continued organizational success and growth.

In that light, this National Safety Month, we should take the opportunity to not only think about our own employees and the perspectives they bring as modern workers, but also about the broader supply chain organizations embedded within our operations.

These organizations represent the complexity of modern work and bring a host of considerations and needs that we may not naturally consider. And this modern workforce needs our support.

The construction industry, a strong proxy for contracted work, saw fatalities increase 39.8% between 2011 to 2022. During a period marked by increased attention on health and safety, increased investment, theoretical shift, and technological advancement, the impact on fatalities was limited at best.

We need better ways to support workers who may not be directly under our control but whose work environment, conditions, and outcomes we can still influence.

Businesses serious about moving beyond compliance and toward high-reliability performance must manage the organizational and operational risks present across their workforce in all forms.

Steps to Take

Now let’s discuss the steps these leading organizations should take to account for the complexity of risk present across their distributed yet highly interconnected workforce:

The first step is developing a line of sight that expands your horizon. Just as a crow’s nest extended visibility for sailing ships of old and helped crews identify both danger and opportunity sooner, leading organizations expand their visibility across their modern workforce.

These organizations look beyond immediate operations at risk multipliers. They unpack layers of communication to increase visibility into the work taking place and increase transparency of health and safety expectations along the way. The days of keeping outsourced and contracted operations at arm’s length are gone—replaced by recognition that reputational risk sits at the top.

Prequalification and compliance requirements play a critical role in reducing organizational risk, but organizations are often best positioned to navigate unexpected operational events when they go beyond compliance and those safeguards are complemented by a trusted community of suppliers built through ongoing engagement across a multitude of health and safety activities.

The second step is maintaining intense attention on a consistent, integrated mission supported by development. In his book “Turn the Ship Around,” U.S. Nact Capt. (Ret) David Marquet describes the clarity of mission shared by submariners. They understand exactly what they are trying to achieve and how the mission calls on them to achieve it. That clarity is reinforced through ongoing technical and leadership development for all ranks, and the learning never stops.

In the public sector, the mission isn’t always so clear. Regional or department priorities may supersede broader organizational objectives, sometimes filling a gap where mission clarity is lacking. Contractors and external teams may not fully understand their impact on that mission.

Training is often discussed in terms of completion rates rather than how ongoing development prepares workers to achieve the mission in changing conditions. That same training can also vary widely across clients, even when working alongside one another on the same operation.

Workers who lack a clear understanding of their purpose and are not adequately prepared for the roles they may be asked to play face a decision-making disadvantage that can conflict with organizational objectives. That’s a serious risk that’s often underappreciated, and those workers are not ready to work in the way that’s ultimately required.

The third step is focusing on what matters most: preventing serious injuries and fatalities (SIFs). The key here is shifting attention toward high-consequence risk factors. In doing so, organizations can better direct resources in support of preventing the incidents that carry the biggest human and operational consequences.

The National Safety Council's SIF Prevention Model provides a useful framework for this effort. Built around the Plan-Do-Check-Act continuous improvement cycle, the model encourages organizations to identify and understand SIF risks, implement and verify effective controls, and continuously evaluate performance over time.

Rather than viewing safety as a compliance exercise, the framework promotes a systematic approach to understanding where high-consequence risks exist and whether safeguards are truly working as intended.

For organizations navigating increasingly complex workforces and supply chains, this type of disciplined focus can help ensure that attention remains centered on preventing the events that matter most.

As we near the end of National Safety Month 2026, we should remember that every worker who touches our operations—and every organization that contributes to them—should be aligned around the same North Star.

We must ensure every link in our complex supply chains is truly ready to work by moving beyond mere compliance and that the people supporting our work have the information and abilities to safely do the work they’re being asked to do.

This month and beyond, let’s ensure we’re fully considering the broad modern workforce that exists across our organizations.