Your work in the construction industry offers you a unique work environment compared to other service sectors in Harrisburg. This fact was no doubt one of the factors that attracted you to this particular line of work. Yet one of the trade-offs for this additional workplace freedom is the increased accident risks inherent in the construction industry.
Knowing that construction ranks among the most dangerous professions, you might assume that your employer (and other companies in the construction industry) would be better prepared to protect you and your co-workers. Yet as many of our past clients here at the Law Office of Richard F. Maffett can attest to, that is not always the case.
Common safety citations in the construction industry
According to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, worksite safety violations that ranked among the most commonly cited in 2018 include:
- Inadequate fall protection
- Poor scaffolding integrity
- Poor control of hazardous energy sources
- Incorrect ladder use and placement
- Machine guarding
You might chalk up the lack of such protections as your employer not being able to anticipate hazards before an accident actually occurs. Yet what is truly alarming about these safety violation statistics is that accidents directly related to them are the most common in the construction industry.
The Fatal Four
Indeed, per OSHA, most fatal worksite accidents in the construction industry due to either falls, electrocutions, falling objects striking workers, or crush injuries due to workers getting caught in or in-between heavy equipment, machinery or materials. Your employer has open access to these figures; a failure to use them to improve the conditions of your worksite may signal an indifference to your safety.
You can find more information on assigning liability for workplace accidents by continuing to explore our site.
