OSHA Facts on Construction Falls

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is a government agency created in 1971 to implement and enforce workplace safety and health standards in the United States. When serious accidents occur on a construction site that results in death or in-patient hospitalization, OSHA must be notified.

According to OSHA, 20 percent of worker deaths occur in construction, yet construction workers comprise only 6 percent of the total labor force in the US. Falls remain the leading cause of work-related deaths in construction, accounting for more than one in three (36.4 percent) of the total number of fatalities. The CDC reports that construction accidents represent 51 percent of all falls nationally.

The prevalence of fatal falls led to the creation of the National Safety Stand-Down, an initiative started by several agencies, including OSHA and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH). OSHA recommends employers reduce falls by:

• Creating working conditions that are free of known hazards.
• Keeping work-area floors clean and dry as possible.
• Providing personal protective equipment (PPE) at no cost to workers.
• Installing covers over floor holes, and ensuring that guard rails, and toe-boards are installed around elevated open platforms, floors, or runways.
• Installing safety nets, stair railings, and hand railings, and providing fall protection equipment such as safety harnesses and lines.

CED engineers have the right experiences for investigating OSHA regulations and worker safety. The original OSHA safety standards were adapted from military safety practices and many CED engineers have military backgrounds. Other engineers have held management roles in industry or construction with responsibility for safety and know the regulations and codes.

CED engineers can perform independent investigations if there is a component of the incident that OSHA did not address or to clarify the OSHA investigation. Contact us today for your construction site accident or submit your next case or claim online.

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