Preventing Falls in a Construction Workplace

Preventing Falls in a Construction Workplace

Fall accidents happen unexpectedly and demands little to none requirements to occur, all it takes is a little elavation and absence of presence of mind while doing something. Fall accidents even occur at household, offices, outside work spaces such as construction sites where elevations are countless and so is the risk of falling. Fall accidents account for one-third of all total deaths around the world, considering it as a leading cause of death not only in construction workplaces but in all work spaces. Factors constituing fall accidents that are commonly found in a construction sites are:

• Roofs
• Scaffoldings
• Ladders
• Elevated concretes
• Vehicles 

Occurence of Fall Accidents inside a Consruction Workplace 

The following statistics are from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) that showcases the tendency, social standing and risk of fall accidents in a construction site.

• 11.4 million individuals were employed in the field of construction in 2019, a significant increase compared to 2011.
  
  
• Employment in construction among Hispanic people is rising at more than half (55%) before the latter years.
  
  
• Male occupation count as a construction worker is significantly high compared to women as more than 90% of them are employed as one, most of them are Hispanic with a percentage of 28.6% compared to those who are not with 16.4%.
  
  
• With the high population and employee, an proportional increase in Fatalities among Hispanic construction workers has been observed as well, with the percentage of estimated 90% rate of fatal injuries occurences has been tallied during 2011 to 2019. 
  
  
•  Among all accidents in a construction site, fall accidents has been a consistent cause of world's leading cause of death among work-inclined accidents in a construction, accounted for over 35% of total number of fatality in construction industry.
  
  
• Despite small sample of workers within a small business or industry, they account for more than 75% of fatal fall accidents between years 2015 to 2017 even if their pay contributes only 39% of construction pay employment.One factor is said, that security and risk reduction is ignored because of low funding by the employer. 

How To Reduce Risks of Falling while working in a Construction Site

1. Plan, Provide, Train
   Plan for execution of a certain work routine with recommendation from an appropriate person, employer should and is required to provide protective equipment to employees as a standard procedure from Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), and give a short period or long if necessary to train them how to use materials that are unfamiliar with them.
   
   
2. Be wary of your surrounding, especially working in a highly elevated work space condition
   In a time-bound project, being swift and fast-paced is inevitable, but never lose the presence of mind while working. Remember where you are working, what conditions you were under, its natural hazards and your surrounding people working with you. It is important to still acknowledge what risks has your surrounding possess, because if you may not notice one, you will be in peril and serious danger and one of them is fall. 
   
   
3. Planning Your Work
   Keep in mind that planning is an essential notion while working in a construction. Plan ahead and keep yourself informed regarding where you will be assigned for today's task. Prepare for appropriate personal protective equipment and right presence of mind.
   
   
4. Remembering Proper Training
   Employees who have been in a construction accident are usually found out to be lacking proper and essential trainings. Supplementing important safety and right behavior insidea construction site would be impactful on saving employees' lives as they behave and act accordingly when dealing work inside and they will know what to do in an emergency to himself or even helping others. 
   

What can an victim of negligent employer can do?

If you think and has evidences to proof that your employer has been negligence on doing his part to keep his employees safe and failed and as a result, you became a collateral damage and suffer physically, emotionally, and financially then you are entitled to file for a personal injury claim to make your employer responsible and make him pay in a form of worker's compensation pay. Call our office now for free legal consulation at Ryan LLP.