Jobsite Safety

Newer Employees More Likely to Suffer Fatal Injuries
 
 

 


March 10, 2008 -  

 

An NAHB study found that 45% of fatal injuries in home building were from falls. 
Nearly half of the workplace fatalities in residential construction that occurred in the last four years happened to workers who had been with their employer less than a year, according to "Residential Construction Industry Fatalities 2003-2006," a recently-completed NAHB safety study.

An additional 25% of the fatalities involved workers who had been with their companies between one and five years.

"The fact that two-thirds of residential construction workplace fatalities happen to workers with less than five years with their current employer shows how critical it is for companies to spend the time to provide comprehensive safety training to their new employees," said Buck Roberts, president of A.B. Roberts Construction Company in Anderson, S.C. and chairman of NAHB's Construction Safety and Health Committee.

Falls, which accounted for 45% of the industry's reported deaths, were the most common cause of home building fatalities, according to the study. Workers most often fell from roofs, ladders and scaffolding.

The fatally-injured workers were most often installing, building or assembling items such as siding, roofing, decking, walls, windows and scaffolding at the time of the fall, the study found.

In addition, more than half of the fall-related fatalities were workers who were 45 or older.

"Even if your new employees come to you having worked many years in residential construction, they may not be familiar with safety practices on your site," said Roberts. "Thorough and job-specific safety training is essential regardless of the employee's age or experience level."

The study evaluated the 1,385 work-related deaths that were reported in residential construction from 2003 to 2006. Data was collected from the U.S. Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics' (BLS) Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries as well as employment estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey and the BLS Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages.

Study Available Free From NAHB

The study, available free from NAHB, is the most comprehensive analysis of home building industry fatalities to date.

To download a free copy of the full study or its executive summary from the NAHB Web site, go to: www.nahb.org/fatalitystudy.