As someone who makes your living working construction in Florida, you may have firsthand knowledge of just how dangerous your line of work can be. Working in construction presents numerous occupational hazards, but recognizing where your most notable risks lie may help you learn to mitigate them. At Kaylor, Kaylor & Leto, P.A., we recognize that many construction worker injuries and deaths result from what are known as construction’s “Fatal Four.” We have helped many construction workers who experienced an injury on the job site pursue appropriate recourse in an accident’s aftermath.
According to the United States Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration, construction’s Fatal Four played a role in more than 63 percent of all construction worker fatalities in 2016. Additionally, construction worker deaths accounted for more than 21 percent of all private sector occupational fatalities that same year, shining a spotlight on just dangerous modern construction sites continue to be.
So, what, exactly, are construction’s Fatal Four? The first is falls, which caused nearly 40 percent of all of 2016’s construction worker deaths. This includes falls from rooftops and falls from scaffolding, among related types. Another nearly 10 percent of 2016’s construction worker deaths, meanwhile, involved workers who were struck by objects, such as those falling from scaffolds or roofs.
Electrocutions, too, are part of construction’s Fatal Four, with just over 8 percent of modern construction worker fatalities involving electrocution. Finally, another 7.3 percent of construction worker deaths in 2016 resulted from workers who found themselves caught in between or compressed by objects or machinery. You can find more about work-related accidents on our webpage.
