Construction’s “Fatal Four” cause majority of worker deaths

As someone who supports yourself by working on Connecticut’s construction industry, you may already know that aches, pains and injuries are typically par for the course for someone in your line of work. In many cases, though, construction workers suffer injuries or accidents that are so serious that they ultimately result in their deaths, and many such deaths result from similar circumstances. At the Law Office of George H. Romania, LLC, we know that the majority of today’s construction worker deaths involve the “fatal four,” and we have helped many construction workers who suffered injury, or worker family members who lost a loved one, seek appropriate recourse after an accident.

According to the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration, learning how to eliminate construction’s fatal four would save an estimated 582 American worker lives annually. The fatal four caused nearly 60 percent of all construction worker fatalities in the U.S. in 2017, highlighting just how important it is for employers to improve safety measures and better protect their workers.

So, just what are construction’s fatal four? It may come as little surprise that falls are the most substantial risk you face as a construction worker, with construction site falls accounting for nearly 40 percent of all construction worker fatalities in 2017. The second-most-common cause of construction worker deaths in the United States, contributing to more than 8 percent of industry fatalities, involves some type of object striking workers, such as a tool.

The third-most-common cause of workers deaths in the construction industry, meanwhile, is electrocution, which caused more than 7 percent of construction worker deaths in 2017. The fourth and final most prevalent cause of construction worker deaths involved workers getting stuck or caught between something, with this category covering compression by objects, scaffolding or trench collapses and so on. You can find more about workers’ compensation on our webpage.