Construction is still the most dangerous kind of work that an American worker on the job can do, according to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). In 2011, their agency findings show:
- Out of 4,114 worker fatalities in private industry in calendar year 2011, 721 or 17.5% were in construction.
- The leading causes of worker deaths on construction sites were falls, followed by electrocution, struck by object, and caught-in/between.
- These “Fatal Four” were responsible for nearly three out of five (57%) construction worker deaths in 2011.
Eliminating the Fatal Four would save 410 workers’ lives in America every year.
- Falls – 251 out of 721 total deaths in construction in CY 2011 (35%)
- Electrocutions – 67 (9%)
- Struck by Object – 73 (10%)
- Caught-in/between – 19 (3%)
However, construction workers aren’t the only American workers who are working at risk on the job. According to OSHA, the following ten injuries on the job were the most common worker injuries in the United States last year:
- Scaffolding, general requirements, construction (29 CFR 1926.451)
- Fall protection, construction (29 CFR 1926.501)
- Hazard communication standard, general industry (29 CFR 1910.1200)
- Respiratory protection, general industry (29 CFR 1910.134)
- Control of hazardous energy (lockout/tagout), general industry (29 CFR 1910.147)
- Electrical, wiring methods, components and equipment, general industry (29 CFR 1910.305)
- Powered industrial trucks, general industry (29 CFR 1910.178)
- Ladders, construction (29 CFR 1926.1053)
- Electrical systems design, general requirements, general industry (29 CFR 1910.303)
- Machine guarding (machines, general requirements, general industry) (29 CFR 1910.212)
“Every day in America, 13 people go to work and never come home.”
– Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis, April 26, 2012
