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Construction Industry Deaths

January 7th, 2007 Posted by Mark

The North Carolina Department of Labor is concerned about deaths at construction sites throughout the state. It is so concerned about the prevalence of such accidents at its construction sites that the North Carolina Department of Labor is holding forums throughout the state to address the issue with construction employers. If you have seen this issue first hand at one of your work sites, or are just concerned about protecting your employees from such an eventuality, then you should plan to visit one of these forums. The North Carolina Department of Labor had one in Greenville already, but is planning to continue to hold them in other North Carolina communities such as Raleigh, Winston-Salem, and Charlotte.

Why such an urgency? Well, as it turns out, construction work is some of the most dangerous in the state, and perhaps even throughout the country, but it doesn’t have to be. Certain easy precautions can be taken. Workers can be better trained and reminded about safety procedures and ways for them to reduce their risk of injury and even death while they do their job.

But the time being, the North Carolina Department of Labor wants to make sure this message is getting through loud and clear so that the past is not repeated. These labor forums actually started back in 2003. In 2005, still, the Department of Labor had to investigate 80 workplace deaths. About 27 of these were just from the construction industry—roughly one third of them.

But the Department of Labor holds firm that their safety forums are paying off, and claims that they can see a beneficial effect in the workplace fatality and safety stats from the last year. In fact, the officials I’ve seen quoted say that they have actually seen a drop off in the construction fatalities that have been reported to them.