NIOSH Safety and Health Topic:

Construction Safety

Construction is a high hazard occupation. During the period from 1980 through 1995, at least 17,000 construction workers died from injuries suffered on the job. Construction lost more workers to traumatic injury death than any other major industrial sector during this time period. Construction has the third highest rate of death by injury: 15.2 deaths per 100,000 workers. Only mining and agriculture experience higher rates. The leading causes of death among construction workers are falls from elevations, motor vehicle crashes, electrocution, machines, and struck by falling objects.

NIOSH Publications and Web Sites on Construction Hazards

NIOSH has published a number of Alerts on hazards that are faced by workers in the construction industry. These Alerts provide brief overviews of the problems, present case descriptions of fatal incidents, outline the relevant safety standards and practices, and summarize NIOSH recommendations for prevention.

All NIOSH Alerts on Traumatic Injury Hazards

Fatality Investigation Reports (conducted under the FACE Program)
Since the inception of the FACE program in 1982, hundreds of fatal incidents involving construction workers have been investigated by NIOSH and State investigators. This link provides a list of those cases which in turn links to the full-text reports on the FACEWeb.

Workplace Solution: Preventing Injuries from Installing Drywall
DHHS (NIOSH) Publication No. 2006-147 (September 2006)
NIOSH recommendations to reduce injuries to drywall installers and carpenters from overexertion and falls.

Alert: Preventing Worker Injuries and Deaths from Mobile Crane Tip-Over, Boom Collapse, and Uncontrolled Hoisted Loads
DHHS (NIOSH) Publication No. 2006-142 (September 2006)
This Alert describes six incidents resulting in the deaths of eight workers and injuries to two others that were either working near or operating mobile cranes. In each incident, these injuries or deaths could have been prevented by using proper safety procedures.

Alert: Preventing Falls of Workers through Skylights and Roof and Floor Openings
DHHS (NIOSH) Publication No. 2004-156 (August 2004)
This Alert describes five deaths resulting from falls through skylights and roof and floor openings. Recommendations are provided to help prevent similar deaths in the future.

Building Safer Highway Work Zones: Measures to Prevent Worker Injuries From Vehicles and Equipment
DHHS (NIOSH) Publication No. 2001-128 (April 2001)
Building Safer Highway Work Zones represents a collaborative effort between government, labor, the construction industry, manufacturers, and academia to address worker safety in highway work zones. Previous prevention activities by the traffic safety community have focused on protecting motorists traveling through work zones. The safety of workers, particularly those who must work on foot around construction vehicles and equipment, has received considerably less attention. To increase awareness of these hazards, NIOSH reviewed current highway safety literature, analyzed fatality and injury data, and convened a meeting of work zone safety stakeholders. This document is the result of those efforts. It presents complementary prevention measures to protect workers from hazards posed by construction vehicles and equipment as well as by traffic vehicles. These prevention measures are directed to varied stakeholders with interest in work zone safety—road builders and maintainers, contracting agencies, policy makers, and manufacturers--and address issues ranging from the contract.

Construction Topic Page
This topic page contains links to both safety and health resources concerning the construction industry. If you want more information on health risks to construction workers--including silica dust and other lung hazards, noise, carbon monoxide, lead, asphalt, etc.—try this topic page.

ELCOSH: Electronic Library of Construction Safety and Health
This electronic library, developed and maintained by the Center to Protect Workers' Rights, is a large set of information on construction hazards, statistics, prevention strategies, training. A good resource for construction companies, safety and health professionals, supervisors and workers.

Worker Deaths by Falls: A Summary of Surveillance Findings and Investigative Case Reports
DHHS (NIOSH) Publication No. 2000-116 (September 2000)
Falls from elevations cause more fatal injuries in construction than any other cause. This comprehensive document presents an overview of fall hazards, statistics on deaths resulting from falls, and information on fall protection programs. Additionally, full text reports from several hundred investigations of fatal falls are included.

Surveillance

Worker Health Chartbook 2004: Chapter 4 - High-Risk Industries and Occupations: Construction Trades
This section provides data for tracking trends in fatal and nonfatal occupational injuries and illnesses among workers in the construction trade.