A recent news article reported an incident where a worker fell 12 feet at a construction site. The incident happened when the man stepped backward and fell on to an unfinished basement floor. The construction worker sustained head and internal injuries and was transported to a local hospital.

Cave-ins are a deadly trenching hazard. There are also other dangers that lurk in trenches including asphyxiation due to lack of oxygen in a confined space, inhalation of toxic fumes, drowning, electrocution and explosions. In fact, the fatality rate for excavation work is 112 percent higher than the rate for general construction. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) requires that workers in trenches and excavations be protected and that safety and health programs address the variety of dangers they face on the job. Trench collapses may be caused by lack of protective systems, unsafe access or exits, and failure to properly inspect the trench.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has fined a construction company about $55,000 for allowing a worker into a trench that was at risk of caving in, according to a recent news report. A federal inspector apparently found a construction worker in the 6-foot trench that had no safeguards in place to prevent a trench collapse. The trench had no ladder to facilitate an escape for the worker. Also, an excavator at the edge of the trench had caused soil and other debris to fall into the trench, OSHA officials said. The excavator operator was not wearing a high-visibility vest and the injury-and-illness log at the construction site was incomplete, which are also violations of federal standards.

According to the OSHA's web site, falls are the leading cause of death in the construction industry. An average of 362 fatal falls occurred each year from 1995 to 1999, a trend which is on the rise. In fact, falls from a higher elevation account for one-third of all construction accident deaths. It is extremely important that employers in the construction industry adopt safety and health programs to protect workers from falls on the job. Falls commonly occur at Arizona construction accident sites as a result of scaffold collapses, slip and falls, or structures being improperly secured or shored up.

A recent news report describes an incident where a construction worker fell 25 feet from a ladder into a concrete vault that was being built on site. The construction worker was apparently conscious when crews arrived, but he was in a lot of pain from enduring serious injuries. No one saw the man fall off the ladder. The worker was said to have been lying there for about five minutes before he was found by his co-workers. He was transported to an area hospital for treatment of serious personal injuries.

In this particular case, it is not clear how or why the stone slab fell on the worker. In such situations, it is important to look into whether the workers who were involved received proper training to conduct such work. It is also critical to examine whether these employees received safety training. In addition, it is not clear whether a forklift was used to do this job or whether the accident occurred as a result of "load shifting."

A recent news article reported the death of a 58-year-old construction worker who fell to his death while helping build new dormitories on the campus of a university. The worker had apparently been walking up a slight incline when the operator of a forklift put the equipment in reverse and struck him. The man was transported to a local hospital where he was pronounced dead. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration is investigating this tragic incident.
According to the data compiled by Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), a government agency in the Department of Labor, forklift accidents claim 85 lives every year in the United States, while leaving 34,900 individuals with serious injuries and 61,800 individuals with minor injuries.

A recent news report talks about a worker who fell 20 feet from where he was working to a concrete floor. His foreman says that the worker is not expected to live for more than a few days. Apparently, this worker sustained catastrophic head injuries including a skull fracture when he fell. Falls at a construction site could occur as a result of unprotected sides, wall opening, floor holes, improper scaffold construction, unguarded protruding steel bars and misuse of portable ladders.

A construction worker recently died in a construction site accident when a 100-foot-tall lift fell on him, according to a Fox News report. Another worker sustained serious injuries in the accident. He was also hit by the lift as it fell. The workers were helping with construction work on a performing arts center when the tragedy occurred. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is investigating this fatal construction accident.

Recently, OSHA cited a bridge and tower painting company after a worker fell to his death while painting a bridge site. OSHA investigators found that the fatal construction site accident occurred because of a lack of fall protection, training deficiencies, machine guarding issues and scaffolding hazards. In such cases, companies have 15 business days from the receipt of the latest citations and proposed penalties to comply and participate in an informal conference with OSHA officials to contest or appeal the findings.

The deaths were tragic indeed. But even more heart-wrenching is the fact that these three men could have been alive if only the scaffolding parts had been inspected and replaced or repaired as needed. One of the companies has been slapped with eight serious violations including one for failing to provide scaffolding capable of supporting four times the maximum load. Another company was cited for failing to provide a competent person to inspect a scaffold prior to use. Two other companies were cited for failing to provide adequate fall protection systems on scaffolds. The companies face nearly $160,000 in fines from OSHA.

According to a recent news report, a worker sustained a fractured leg and a broken pelvis when a dirt trench wall fell on him when he was helping to put down concrete sewer pipes. The worker was trapped in the trench because of his injuries. He was safely removed from the trench and treated for serious injuries. OSHA officials are investigating this incident. Officials issued a citation to the contracting firm for a safety violation that resulted in the accident, specifically, the absence of shoring in the area of the trench where the dirt wall fell.

According to the data compiled by Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), a government agency in the Department of Labor, forklift accidents claim 85 lives every year in the United States, while leaving 34,900 individuals with serious injuries and 61,800 individuals with minor injuries.

A recent News 8 article reports a construction accident where a worker fell from the 31st floor of a hotel down to the 30th floor. The worker apparently fell more than 10 feet onto hard concrete. Rescue workers had to wrap the injured employee onto a backboard and carry him down three floors on a ladder because there was no elevator that went up to the construction site. He was transported to a local hospital for treatment of his injuries.

A recent news report in The Star-Ledger details a construction site accident where a worker's leg was crushed by a steamroller on a highway. Workers were reportedly paving lanes in that area of the highway when the worker's leg was crushed by the heavy equipment. The construction worker was transported to an area hospital where he was listed in critical but stable condition.