If you are a construction worker toiling in or around the five boroughs, you know just how dangerous your job can be. Your life can end or be irrevocably altered in seconds due to a mistake you or someone working with you makes.
All construction sites are inherently dangerous, but the primary catalyst of fatalities on construction sites, according to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, are the following:
1. Falls
Falls are best prevented by the correct use of personal fall arrest equipment. Workers should also make sure they scale scaffolds and ladders safely. Supervisors and safety men are responsible for the installation and maintenance of perimeter protection and covering and securing openings in the floor.
2. Struck-By
These risks can be minimized by workers wearing clothing that is highly visible whenever they are around vehicles or equipment. No one should ever get between a fixed and moving object to avoid being pinned.
3. Caught-in/Between
All excavations and trenches that are more than 5′ deep must be adequately shored and braced; some shallower trenches also require bracing systems.
4. Electrocutions
The safety man or foreman is responsible for locating and identifying both overhead and buried utilities before work begins. Workers must remain alert for power lines above them as they operate their equipment; simply being within a certain range of high voltage current can prove deadly.
All portable electric tools have to be double-insulated or grounded and ground-fault circuit interrupters should be used. Whenever work is being done on an elevated platform like a scaffold or even a ladder, the risk of electrocution rises.
Were you injured in one of these high risk on-the-job activities? You may be eligible for compensation by filing a claim for damages.
Source: Occupational Safety and Health Administration, “Top Four Construction Hazards,” accessed Aug. 05, 2016