There is a certain amount of personal freedom that you feel when you work in the construction industry in Englewood (which is no doubt one of the factors that attracted you to that particular career path in the first place). Yet with the luxury of not feeling “cooped up” in an office comes a significant trade-off: the safety risks that come with construction work.
Indeed, construction work routinely ranks among the most dangerous professions. Yet surprisingly, a vast majority of the serious injuries and death that the industry produces come from only a small handful of causes.
Common construction fatality causes
Known as “the Fatal Four,” these causes include:
- Falls from heights
- Being struck by falling objects
- Electrocution injuries
- Being crushed by equipment or materials
According to information collected the by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, these causes account for almost 60 of the reported fatalities in the construction industry.
Protecting you from the Fatal Four
These causes are also easily preventable. You may think that their prevalence in your particular line of work might serve as actionable information for your employer to emphasize additional workplace protections to safeguard you and your coworkers from them (such as harnesses or other fall arrest systems, strict equipment operation regulations and electrical safety systems). Yet surprisingly this does not seem to be the case. In fact, violations of regulations specifically related to the Fatal Four are among the most commonly reported by OSHA officials.
Given the aforementioned information, it may be difficult for your employer to plead ignorance to these risks if and when you or a coworkers suffers a serious workplace injury. Their failure to act may provide you with the evidence needed to support a liability claim beyond standard workers’ compensation benefits.
