Common Construction Site Hazards
In a recent study that was conducted by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, there were roughly 1000 construction-related deaths in 2016. People who work in construction-related occupations make up only about 6% of the total population, over 20% of employee deaths that occurred in the private sector were related to construction.
The real disaster is that, as with most accidents of any sort, over 60% of these deaths could have been prevented. Some of the main causes of construction industry fatalities and the steps that can be taken to prevent them are:
Falls
More than 30% of all construction-related deaths each year are due to falls. These falls usually occur because of the presence of unstable working surfaces, failure to use protection equipment designed to keep you safe should you fall, and the unsafe and/or improper use of ladders and scaffolding. In order to provide the best protection against these dangerous falls, you should ensure that your scaffolds and your ladders meet the latest safety standards and are appropriately sized for the requirements of the various projects for which they will be needed. You should also ensure that work surfaces are stable, free from holes, and provide proper traction.
Struck by Objects
The second most frequent cause of job site fatalities on construction sites is due to workers getting struck by objects. This type of incident accounts for almost 11% of on-the-job construction site deaths. Vehicle collisions are a significant part of this statistic. Making certain that the safety rules include vehicle route with a clear field of vision, and that workers know how to avoid placing themselves between any sort of moving object and a fixed object. Inappropriate use of heavy machinery like forklifts and cranes also adds to these types of accidents. Always ensure that your operators are suitably trained on the safe use of any equipment that they will be using and you will be able to avoid injuries to both drivers and other employees.
Electrical Hazards
The hazards of working with electricity have been understood for hundreds of years, and somehow electrical safety concerns still make up over 8% of construction site fatalities. Before you start any work, you should always identify and actually locate all utilities. If your operators are using any type of equipment, you need to make sure they’ve located any overhead electric lines and that they are accustomed to the current minimum safe distance protocols. Making sure that you have provided your operators with portable tools that are “double insulated” and utilize ground-fault circuit interrupters (GFCIs) as much as possible can go a long way towards preventing an avoidable accident. Scaffolds, platforms, and ladders offer a special safety risk, so be sure that your workers are properly trained so as to bypass any related electrical risks.
Here at the Los Angeles Injury Group, we are no strangers to successfully filing workers compensation claims for our clients. Our attorneys excel at representing union members as well. If you or a family member have been injured in a construction site accident, we can help you obtain the worker’s compensation that you are entitled to. If you would like a free consultation regarding your workplace injury case, then please give us a call at 310-954-7248 as soon as possible.