Construction: One of the Most Dangerous Jobs

Whether you are one of the construction site workers or a construction supervisor, you know you are in a high-risk job that takes the lives of hundreds of people each year. No matter how hard to try to be mindful of all the possible dangerous scenarios, there are areas in a building zone that you just can’t control. Mistakes can happen, and people can get injured or lose their lives, and that is why you never know what to expect when you go to work each day. Here are some facts about the construction industry that explain why it is one of the most dangerous jobs in America.

1. Deaths

Although there are no statistics on how the deaths occurred, there were almost 1,000 workers in the construction industry that suffered from a work-related death in 2018. That is over 20 percent of the total worker deaths across the United States. That number also represents one of every five workers that was killed on a job site in America.

2. Injuries

Construction workers have a high percentage of job-related injuries due to falls, falling objects, and damage from tools or machines. There are rules and laws in place that demand workers have hard hats on at all time, and many high platform workers are required to attach a protective harness while working off the ground, but the statistics show that one construction worker will be injured for every 10 that work the job.

3. Fatalities

Anyone employed on a construction site knows it is dangerous, but do you know how dangerous it can be? In 2018, almost 40 percent of the deaths resulted from a worker falling. Eight percent of the worker’s deaths resulted from being struck by an object. Electricity was the cause of seven percent of the construction site’s reported deaths and being crushed was reported to cause five percent of construction site deaths.

4. Work

More than 60 percent of all construction site injuries happened to employees that were on the job less than a year, and the risk of exposure to dangerous hazards it high enough to account for a high reported statistic of 15 percent of all registered lead poisoning in America. Interestingly, the workers who were injured most often were reported to be from 25 to 34, with an estimate that more than half of workplace injuries of a serious nature are not reported every year – not even to a personal injury lawyer.

5. Problems

Lapses in known safety protocols and working in difficult conditions are blamed for most of the construction industry injuries and deaths. However, there are also machinery malfunctions, product defects, and worker errors that can be blamed for some of those work-related problems. One statistical source claims that if a person works in the construction industry for 45 years, he or she has a one in 200 chance of losing his or her life.

It is obvious from all the available statistics from 2018 that working in construction is a perilous job with dangerous working conditions that can cause severe injuries and death. Protect yourself while on the job – don’t become a statistic.