Construction Industry Safety and Health

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Industrial Scientific is pleased to announce that OSHA and Mascaro Construction Company, the general contractor for the construction of its new global headquarters near Pittsburgh, have developed a partnering agreement as part of the OSHA Strategic Partnership Program.

A University of California ergonomics team has designed an innovative concrete drill jig that is proving to be highly effective in limiting worker exposures to respirable crystalline silica, as well reducing fatigue and risk of musculoskeletal injuries.

A construction worker fatality at East Georgia State College in Swainsboro, Ga. has resulted in five safety violations against Smiley Plaster Co. The company faces $57,000 in penalties.

OSHA has released a new educational resource that focuses on requirements for injury recording of temporary worker injuries and illnesses. The bulletin explains the requirements for both the staffing agency and the host employer.

A Colorado company and the framing subcontractor it used to locate a damaged water pipe have both been cited for safety violations, after OSHA inspectors found their workers in a trench that exceeded 11 feet in depth with no cave-in protection.

A company inspected in January as part of OSHA’s Local Emphasis Program on fall hazards in construction was cited for two repeat and two serious safety violations for failing to provide required protective equipment and to protect workers from serious fall hazards.

A new NIOSH-funded study on fatalities in the construction industry suggests roofers in residential construction are among those most likely to die in falls from roofs. The study, "Fatal falls from roofs among U.S. construction workers," finds that "the odds of fatal falls from roofs were higher for roofing and residential construction than any other construction sector."

Employers must set up the work place to prevent employees from falling off of overhead platforms, elevated work stations or into holes in the floor and walls. OSHA requires that fall protection be provided at elevations of four feet in general industry workplaces, five feet in shipyards, six feet in the construction industry and eight feet in longshoring operations.

Falls from elevations are severe accidents that occur in many industries and occupations. Falls from elevations result in injuries which are produced by contact between the falling person and the source of injury, under the following circumstances:

Myth: Jobs in the construction trades are only for men. Not true: Women work construction, too. While the overall representation of women in the trades is small at 2.5 percent, more than 40,220 women work as construction laborers, more than 19,500 women work as carpenters, and nearly 26,700 women work as painters.