The 1st century BC engineer Vitruvius writes that a good crew of laborers is just as valuable as any other aspect of construction.

Personal safety equipment, for example, full leather boots (some long-time laborers believe steel toes are dangerous on the construction site; it is better to have crushed toes than toes cut off by the crushed steel - a belief proven wrong by several studies[3]), high-strength pants - canvas or denim (some modify thighs with a sacrificial second layer of jean fabric cut from an old pair) - socks, lip balm, and climate-specific outerwear, are provided by the individual (unless laborers are instructed to work in a climate different from what they typically reside in, for example, high elevation).

In heavy civil work, some are employed on a project basis and mental injuries due to stress are a different but debilitating hazard.

Because of the wide range of skills and ability to simply provide muscle, laborers often earn side-work as independent contractors and under-the-table work.

This can become a toxic and dangerous brew of unplanned work that slides forward on the blood and sweat of hard-working laborers—injury rates often soar.

The value of work put in place by laborers and the value of avoided rework and increased efficiencies produced by the engineers' planning is a balance of resource utilization on any large project.

With a phone call and a good reason they will be on-site the next morning asking questions and demanding apologies for mistreatment of laborers.