Page 106 - OHS, September 2022

TOOLBOX TALK
Construction Fatal Four
OSHA has famously cited these top hazards as the deadliest in the construction industry.
TOPIC
Construction Fatal Four
TAKEAWAY
Employees must recognize the most fatal hazards on a worksite to ensure safety of all.
the number of workers killed by incidents of caught-in or between. According to CPWR, the majority of struck-by incidents involved objects or equipment, most commonly falling materials.
According to NIOSH, construction sites should develop, implement and enforce standard operating procedures that address worker safety and minimize work to be performed near vehicles and equipment. Contractors and on-site safety professionals should use equipment designed to minimize blind areas and work to establish safe work practices for night work and requiring high visibility apparel when on site.
Electrocution
According to BLS data, electrocutions were responsible for over 75 deaths in the construction industry in 2019, a fatal number that tends to stay consistent year over year.
Electrocution is death by electric shock caused by exposure to lethal amounts of electrical energy and can occur from contact with power lines and energized sources, such as faulty equipment or exposed wires, and improper extension cord usage. Both overhead and underground power lines carry a high voltage as well.
To ensure that electrocutions are reduced or eliminated on your worksite, employees should maintain a safe distance and be aware of the location of power lines to avoid accidental contact with heavy equipment, ladders, lifts or more. If employees must operate equipment such as cranes near power lines, contact the utility company to de-energize and ground the lines. When working around live power lines, use nonconductive tools and equipment, avoid storing material underneath power lines and cordon off the area around power lines to the correct distance per OSHA guidelines.
When it comes to the hazards that result in the construction industry’s largest challenges, the safety sphere has boiled it down to the “Fatal Four.” The Fatal Four, which is comprised of fall, caught-in or -between, struck- by and electrocution incidents, make up almost two-thirds of all construction fatalities.
Slips, Trips and Falls
From 2018 to 2020, falls, slips and trips were among the leading events that lead to fatalities on construction worksites resulting in 376 fatal and 22,900 nonfatal injuries. This significant category is high for a hazard that is entirely preventable.
According to The Center for Construction Research and Training (CPWR), fatal falls from a lower level climbed to 401 deaths in 2019, accounting for more than one in three construction deaths that year—a 25 percent increase over 2018. This number of fatalities is higher than any other major industry sector.
The CPWR did mention, however, that these numbers are the lowest amounts of fatal falls the center has seen since 2011. In their analysis conclusion, they noted that the findings were encouraging and show that falls on construction sites can be prevented. They noted that national campaigns like the OSHA Stand Down to Prevent Falls in Construction are effective so long as large and small employees take the time to participate.
To protect workers from fall incidents, plan ahead, provide the right equipment and train workers to use equipment safely, and not just during national stand down weeks, but all year round.
Caught-in or Between
These fatal occurrences can be described as incidents when an employee is being pulled into or caught in machinery and equipment, being compressed or crushed between rolling, sliding or shifting objects such as a semi-trailer or a dock wall, or
between a truck frame and a hydraulic bed that is lowering. Caught-in incidents can also happen when trenching if a cave- in happens.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the total number of caught-in or between incidents that led to a worker fatality was 56 in 2019. More than two-thirds of those killed by a caught-in or between incident were struck, caught or crushed in collapsing materials.
For employees who find themselves in situations where a caught-in or between hazard is a very real possibility, they should be sure to protect themselves by using machinery that is properly guarded, be aware of surroundings to ensure that machinery is sufficiently supported, secured or otherwise made safe, and protect yourself with proper training on excavation sites.
PRO TIP
Be aware of your surroundings to ensure that machinery around you is sufficiently supported, secured or otherwise made safe.
Struck-by
OSHA describes struck incidents as those where the impact of an object alone causes an injury or death—as opposed to caught- in or between incidents where the injury is created as a result of crushing between two objects.
According to OSHA, workers are most often struck by heavy equipment and vehicles, like trucks and cranes, falling or flying objects, like tools and flying particles or concrete or masonry walls that are being constructed.
Stuck-by incidents tend to happen a little more frequently than caught-in or between incidents with 170 workers being fatally struck by something in 2019, triple
102 Occupational Health & Safety | SEPTEMBER 2022
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