HazTek Safety Professional Deidra Wademan first started in the construction industry when she joined the carpenters union as a single mom to her 3-year-old son. She was told that she could join the union with no experience and earn a better-than-average paycheck while she learned. Without prior experience in the carpentry field, Deidra found the work to be even more demanding than she had expected. She worked on high-rises and exterior frames during the frigid winters and she worked on hot rooftops in the summer. Deidra reflected, “It's hard being a woman in the construction industry. I’ve had amazing jobs and awful jobs. I’ve had jobs where people cared about safety and ones where they didn't care if I had to stand on the top of a ladder to get my job done. I hated putting myself at risk because of contractors who looked at me as just another body rather than a person with a family.”

Deidra’s devotion to safety eventually led her to the HazTek family. She is passionate about making job sites safer and building awareness that people matter more than any bottom line. She is also committed to getting workers to stand up for themselves when they’re put into unsafe conditions and deprived of proper personal protective equipment.

Reflecting on her work over the years, one of Deidra’s favorite jobs was carpentry finish work at the American Dream complex in East Rutherford, New Jersey, a retail and entertainment space in the Meadowlands Sports Complex that was completed in 2019.

Deidra is very proud to be a woman in the construction industry, and we are very proud to have her on the HazTek team!

In honor of Women in Construction Week, HazTek is featuring several of our safety professionals who work out in the field.

The National Association of Women in Construction (NAWIC) created Women in Construction (WIC) Week to highlight women as a viable component of the construction industry and as an occasion for the thousands of NAWIC members across the country to help raise awareness of the growing role of women in the construction industry and the opportunities available to them.

HazTek’s Inc. is a leading provider of comprehensive safety management services with a mission to enrich the health, safety, and well-being of our employees, our customers, and our communities.

Credit to: NAWIC