You probably heard that the construction industry is incredibly dangerous and that it has the highest total number of work-related fatalities every year. But even that only paints half of the picture, since how many other construction workers suffer serious injuries.
As such, you may be dedicated to working safely. For instance, you know that construction’s fatal four start with falls. This is the main reason that people pass away. You may resolve to always use a fall protection system if you’re working on an elevated platform, and you may choose to always use the proper ladders or scaffold systems when you need to do jobs at heights. Your goal is to stay safe by eliminating the main risk that you face.
This is a good goal, but you need to remember that you’re only as safe as the people working around you. They can make negligent mistakes that lead to your injuries. If this occurs, all of your safety precautions may not be enough to prevent a catastrophic event.
Struck by an object
For example, the second of the fatal four, which leads to about 10% of all deadly accidents, is when someone is struck by another object. This often happens when the object falls from above and strikes a worker who is below.
Perhaps someone working on a roof had to use an air nailer, for instance, and they set it down to readjust the shingles. But the air nailer slid off of the roof and fell to the ground below, where you were loading more shingles onto the lift to have them brought up to the roof. You can take all the precautions in the world, but you’re never going to expect that a power tool is going to slide over the edge of the roof, and you may not see it coming until it strikes you. The other worker’s negligence in not securing that tool led to your injury.
What options do you have?
This is just one example, but you can imagine how many mistakes other workers can make that put you in harm’s way. If you do get injured, then it’s time to look into all of the legal options at your disposal.