ConstructConnect Blog

When it comes to safety in construction and manufacturing, there are Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) rules that a company cannot ignore. You always want to make sure you remember to put your safety and the safety of your employees and visitors first above all else. For you and your co-workers to remain safe while on the job steps must be taken to minimize potential injuries. Some of the potential injuries in a construction or industrial setting include being electrocuted, falling, receiving a head injury, being burnt, having a limb amputated, or experiencing hearing loss caused by loud equipment.

After five consecutive years of increases in the number of construction worker deaths, construction industry fatalities in private industry fell 2% from 2016 to 2017, according to the 2017 Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries (CFOI) from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released yesterday.

At first glance, the concept of the “fatal four” may sound like a scare tactic implemented by the Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA) to keep construction workers on their toes. However, these four hazards accounted for nearly 64% of construction worker deaths in 2016.

OSHA has determined that there are four main safety hazards, excluding transportation incidents, that account for a majority of all construction worker deaths each year on the jobsite. Dubbed the “Fatal Four” by OSHA, they include falls, electrocutions, being struck by objects, and getting caught in or between hazards. In 2016, 63.7% of all fatalities at construction sites were from one of OSHA’s Fatal Four.

Pioneering your own construction business can often require jumping over more hurdles than most other businesses, simply due to the hazards associated with the job. Aside from ensuring your business is licensed and insured, managers and entrepreneurs also need to face the grueling task of understanding and complying with the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA).

Carbon monoxide (CO) is a silent killer, making it one of the most dangerous threats on the construction site. CO is odorless, meaning that whether it’s present on its own or among other “regular” gases and smells, it’s utterly undetectable.

According to the Associated General Contractors of America (AGC), more people than ever are choosing to work in the construction industry. In fact, the AGC has found that construction employment is at a 10-year high, with more than 280,000 new jobs added in the past year alone.

This past July, Public Citizen, a non-profit consumer and health advocacy group, submitted a petition to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) requesting the agency create a new safety standard to protect workers from exposure to excessive heat. In their petition, they claim that many workers, including those in construction, have to work in extreme heat with no protection from heat stress or heat-related illnesses.

Approaching the topic of workplace safety around heavy equipment might feel tiring to you if you've spent any number of years working in the construction field or any related line of work where equipment is present. Safety reminders are many and some stories of life-altering injury seem like they could have been prevented with common sense, but many more fall outside of what any reasonable human being might be prepared to expect. Falling into a complacent routine can also be more dangerous than simple ignorance in the first place considering it may lead to willing negligence.

OSHA has determined that there are four main safety hazards, excluding transportation incidents, that account for a majority of all construction worker deaths each year on the jobsite. Dubbed the “Fatal Four” by OSHA, they include falls, electrocutions, being struck by objects, and getting caught in or between hazards. In 2016, 63.7% of all fatalities at construction sites were from one of OSHA’s Fatal Four.