The construction industry is an inherently dangerous one, and if you are a Virginia resident who makes your living working in construction, you and your employer need to do your parts to prioritize safety on the job site. At the Dickerson & Smith Law Group, we recognize that the same four factors cause the majority of today’s construction worker injuries and fatalities, and we have helped many construction workers injured on the construction site pursue solutions that fit their needs in the aftermath.
Per the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration, the U.S. construction industry saw more than 99 construction worker deaths occur every week throughout 2017, with an average of 14 construction workers losing their lives every day during that year. In total, 971 hard-working Americans lost their lives while working on construction sites in 2017, and many of those worker deaths could have been preventable.
Just what are the four factors that claimed the most construction worker lives in 2017? The biggest cause of construction worker deaths in America that year were falls, which claimed 381 out of 971 construction worker lives in 2017. Following falls were incidents that involved objects or machinery striking workers, which caused more than 8%, or 80, construction industry deaths that year.
The third-biggest killer of construction workers in 2017, meanwhile, were electrocutions, which claimed 71 employee lives in 2017, while incidents involving construction workers getting stuck or compressed between objects or machinery came in fourth, claiming 50 lives that year. You can find more on work-related injuries and fatalities on our webpage.