Construction Deaths High, Preventable
Safety Violations Continue to Increase on State, Federal OSHA Lists
Falls are the leading cause of death in the construction industry, according to records from the state and federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). In addition, the Bureau of Labor Statistics National Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries identified that falls to a lower level accounted for 544 construction fatalities in 2012, the most recent reporting period.
The construction industry figures prominently in Cal/OSHA's 25 Most Frequently Cited T8 CCR Standards, a tally of applicable state regulations that were violated during calendar year 2012. In the category that is directly related to construction safety—the Construction Injury Prevention Program—the number of citations issued by Cal/OSHA increased from 632 in 2011 to 792 in 2012. (Cal/OSHA is part of the Department of Industrial Relations.)
Three of the top 10 federal OSHA safety violation categories were in the construction sector. Fall protection—or lack of it—on the job site topped OSHA's list of most frequent citations with 8,241 incidents; scaffolding incidents ranked third in the number of citations with 5,243; and violations involving ladder use ranked seventh with 3,311 incidents.
