Women in construction safety were in the spotlight this week after Rachel Foley, a health and safety officer working in the Irish construction industry, was crowned Miss Galaxy International 2026 in the Bahamas. The 26-year-old is the first Irish woman to win the title, and the first Irish contestant to take home a major international pageant title since Rosanna Davison’s Miss World win in 2003.

Foley has spoken openly about what it took to get onto site in the first place. She studied Occupational Safety and Health, where she was one of only a handful of women in her class, and has described the intimidation of walking onto a construction site as a young woman early in her career. Rather than stepping back from the industry, she moved into pageantry alongside it, using the platform to encourage other women to consider careers in construction and safety, and to show that you can wear a hard hat and high-vis one day and a gown the next.

It is great to see more women taking up visible roles across the construction industry, particularly in areas such as health and safety where strong leadership, technical knowledge and confidence on site can make a real difference. Representation matters, not only in encouraging more women to enter the sector, but also in showing the range of careers and opportunities construction can offer.

Visible role models matter, but attracting new people into construction is only part of the challenge. Organisations also need the right processes to onboard, train and support employees as their competencies develop. FlexManager helps construction teams manage training records, onboarding and workforce competency in one connected platform, giving both employees and safety teams greater visibility from day one.

As professionals like Rachel Foley bring greater visibility to careers in construction safety, is your organisation ready to train, develop and support the next generation of HSEQ professionals? Book a demo with FlexManager to see how digital training records and workforce tools can help you build stronger, better-supported teams.