Construction Work Potentially Deadly

One of the most dangerous industries that reports high personal injury statistics is the construction industry.

Many construction sites have their fair share of minor accidents, as
that seems to be the nature of the job. Unfortunately for the workers
on site, deadlier accidents also take place like the collapse of
scaffolding, electrocution, burns, amputations and crush injuries. The
fact of the matter is that the construction industry ranks as number
one when it comes to the number of on the job injuries sustained each
year.

Across the United States there are approximately 250,000
construction sites at any one given time, with close to 6 million
construction workers plying their trade. For every 100,000 construction
workers on the job, at least 23 will die in a work-related accident. On
many, if not all of the sites, there is scaffolding that poses a real
hazard to people’s safety and lives in more than one way.

Not only can the scaffolding collapse, tip or disintegrate, there is
the very real danger of falling material and tools striking people on
the ground. Workers who are dealing with laying electrical wire and
other potentially dangerous utilities, such as running gas lines, also
face significant personal injury risks on the job site.

The US Department of Labor is predicting that over 1,000 workers
will die this year as a result of sustaining a construction site
injury. Those who do not die from their wounds may be permanently
disabled and unable to work again. Interestingly enough, the second
leading industry in terms of high numbers of personal injuries and
deaths was the trucking business, reporting over 500 deaths. Some of
those deaths involved crane accidents, something that has been in the
news quite frequently as of late.

Turning to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration for
further statistics in this area, they show there were ten top factors
in construction worker injuries and death. These factors included the
number one spot going to scaffolding, hazard communication, fall
protection, respiratory protection, lockout/tagout (LOTO), powered
industrial trucks, electrical wiring, machine guarding, general
electrical maintenance and ladders. Lockout/tagout refers to a safety
procedure of shutting down dangerous machinery and not starting it
again until maintenance and servicing has been completed.

Workers that have survived a workplace injury or those that are
grieving a wrongful death need to consult with a highly skilled
personal injury attorney in order to ensure justice is done. The
attorney will be able to guide claimants through the difficult process
of securing damages for severe injuries or to obtain just damages for a
negligent wrongful death.

To learn more, visit Lawbarron.com.