Page 28 - Occupational Health & Safety, March 2019

FALL PROTECTION
Far Too Many Fatal Falls
The latest BLS CFOI data showed 747 construction trades workers died in 2017, and that fatal falls were at their highest level in the 26-year history of the Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries.
BY JERRY LAWS
Some welcome news at the end of 2018 came from the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics, which announced that the U.S. fatal work injury rate dropped slightly in 2017. A to- tal of 5,147 fatal work injuries were recorded in the United States in 2017, down slightly from the 5,190 fatal injuries reported in 2016, the U.S. Bureau of La- bor Statistics reported Dec. 18. BLS reported that the fatal injury rate decreased to 3.5 per 100,000 full-time equivalent workers from 3.6 in 2016.
But then came the bad news: Fatal falls were at their highest level in the 26-year history of the Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries (CFOI) and accounted for 887 workers’ deaths, according to BLS, which also reported Dec. 18 that fatal occupational injuries in- volving confined spaces rose 15 percent to 166 in 2017 from 144 in 2016.
The data showed 747 construction trades workers died in 2017, representing 14.5 percent of the total fa- tal work injuries during the year.
The 887 fatal occupational falls—up from 849 in 2016—represented an alarming 17 percent of the total worker deaths in 2017, according to the CFOI.
The agency identified 10 civilian occupations with high fatal work injury rates during 2017. The list in- cluded roofers, structural iron and steel workers, and electrical power line installers and repairers. All 10 had rates that year at least five times higher than the 2017 rates for all workers of 3.5 per 100,000 full-time equivalent workers:
“This level of worker safety and health is not ac- ceptable,” said ASSP President Rixio Medina, CSP, CPP. “There needs to be greater energy and a stron- ger national focus on preventing serious injuries and fatalities on the job. Most of these incidents are preventable, and they are occurring far too often in every industry.
“We will continue to push for greater education and widespread improvement through a multi- stakeholder approach that must involve government agencies, business leaders, advocacy groups, labor unions and professional associations,” Medina con- tinued. “Significant change is needed in workplace safety cultures to better protect workers and en- sure that they return home to their families every day. It’s really about bringing best practices into the spotlight at all companies in every industry, such as prevention through design and risk management ap-
proaches. We believe the proper implementation of a safety and health management system can help pro- tect workers and improve a company’s bottom line. Then everybody wins.”
Sixth Annual National Safety Stand-Down: May 6-10, 2019
The alarming fatality numbers shine a spotlight on this year’s sixth annual National Safety Stand-Down to Prevent Falls in Construction1, which is coming up fast—it is set for May 6-10, 2019. An OSHA partner- ship with NIOSH, CPWR – The Center for Construc- tion Research and Training, and the National Safety Council, the Stand-Down is a week-long outreach event encouraging construction industry employers and workers to pause during the workday to discuss fall hazards and how to prevent falls.
It has been embraced by the industry: The part- ner organizations reported in 2018 that during the previous four years, thousands of companies had par- ticipated in the National Safety Stand-Down, reaching some 7.5 million employees across the United States and internationally through more than 130 public events and thousands of private stand-downs per year.
The journal Annals of Work Exposures and Health published an important article2 by four CPWR au- thors, “Construction Safety and Health in the USA: Lessons from a Decade of Turmoil,” in September 2018. The authors (Knut Ringen, Xiuwen Sue Dong, Linda M. Goldenhar, and Christine T. Cain) discuss trends in U.S. construction industry fatalities from 2003-2015, reporting that they dropped to an all-time low—both the rate and the absolute number of fatal injuries—during 2010-2011 because of the recession starting in 2008 that sharply reduced construction ac- tivity. By 2016-2017, the industry was back to full em- ployment, new employers and new workers entered the industry, and fatalities increased, they write.
Falls from height cause more than one-third of U.S. construction deaths. Fatal falls in construction had fallen to a low of 256 in 2010 but rose to 353 in 2015, according to a chart included in their article. They point out that, over a construction employee’s working life that ended around 2010, the risk of fatal injuries was approximately one death per 200 FTE and for non-fatal injuries resulting in days away from work, the adjusted lifetime risk was approxi- mately 78 per 100 FTEs. “However, those risks are
22 Occupational Health & Safety | MARCH 2019
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