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CONEXPO-CON/AGG aims for Guinness World Records at 2026 trade show

Written By Sarah Poirier

People entering at CONEXPO/CON-AGG 2023

CONEXPO-CON/AGG organizers announced a bold plan for March 3, 2026, when thousands of construction professionals will gather at the Las Vegas Convention Center to attempt a GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS™ title for the most people wearing high-visibility safety vests in one place. The record attempt is going to kick off right in the middle of the show’s opening ceremony. As it stands, the benchmark is 2,499 people, but the organisers at CONEXPO-CON/AGG are convinced the industry can smash that total. At its heart, the idea is simple: you show up, put on the high-visibility vest, and you’re counted towards the record. It’s a highly visual way to remind the public just how many people power the industry daily.

CONEXPO-CON/AGG runs March 3–7, 2026, and is widely known as the largest construction trade show in North America. It draws large attendance from contractors, manufacturers, rental fleets, suppliers, and technology companies, who come to see new machines, jobsite tools, and software in action. Organizers say the safety vest record attempt is meant to be a unifying moment that brings together people from every corner of the industry. Participants will receive commemorative safety vests to mark the occasion and take part in the official count.

The record attempt also puts safety front and center, by design. High-visibility safety vests are the go-to piece of PPE you see on almost every jobsite, especially where there’s big equipment, moving traffic, or loads being shifted around. The CONEXPO-CON/AGG team has pitched their Guinness attempt as a chance to celebrate the people who get the work done, while also emphasizing that safety is everyone’s responsibility, not just one group. For many crews, the vest is one of the first things you put on at the start of a shift, and one of the last things you take off.

Beyond the photo moment, the event is also meant to highlight the scale of construction’s economic and societal impact. The U.S. construction sector represents more than $2 trillion in annual economic output, supporting millions of jobs across building, heavy civil, utilities, energy, logistics, and manufacturing. That number is easy to toss around, but it’s harder to visualize. A record attempt like this turns the size of the industry into something you can actually see.

It also reflects how interconnected construction has become. The people wearing those safety vests won’t all be doing the same kind of work. Some will be running earthmoving crews, others will be managing fleet logistics, training apprentices, engineering attachments, writing safety programs, or developing jobsite software. CONEXPO-CON/AGG is one of the rare places where all of those roles show up in the same space, at the same time.

Whether the record is broken or not, the attempt itself is a reminder that construction is still a people-first industry, built on shared work, shared standards, and shared pride. 

If you want more updates on CONEXPO-CON/AGG 2026, new equipment launches, and what they mean for contractors, subscribe to the Under the Hard Hat newsletter.

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