The construction industry is massive in the United States, and hundreds of thousands of workers make a living in this profession every day. It’s a physical job with a lot of potential hazards, though, so it’s also the industry that typically leads the country in fatal accidents. This is due both to the risks inherent within the job and to the size of the industry as a whole.
Even within construction, researchers have found that just four types of accidents lead to more than half (57%) of all fatalities. They have deemed these the Fatal Four, and it’s important for all workers to know exactly what they are.
The greatest risks that you face on a construction site
No matter what type of construction work you do, the following are the four ways that most fatal accidents take place:
- Falls: Workers may slip or trip and fall, fall from one level to another, fall off of a ladder or suffer from a serious fall in many other ways.
- Caught between: Workers could be caught between two vehicles, between heavy materials or between parts of a machine.
- Electrocutions: Workers could be exposed to a current in water, they could touch a live wire or they could face risks from batteries or generators.
- Struck-by: This generally means that an object, such as a tool, fell from above. For instance, a worker on a roof could accidentally drop an air nailer to the ground below, where others are getting shingles ready to send up.
If you have been seriously injured while working construction, be sure you understand your rights to compensation, medical care and more.
