In harm's way

Construction industry faces constant danger

By Dustin Block

Last year, 1,226 construction industry employees nationwide went to work and didn’t come home.

Numbers released in August by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics show that construction-related jobs remain among the most dangerous in the country. In 2006, nearly 11 of every 100,000 construction workers died on the job, according to the BLS. Only farming, mining, and transportation and warehouse jobs were more dangerous last year.

Over the last four years, the number of construction-related fatalities remained steady. The industry averaged 1,196 deaths since 2003, reaching a low of 1,131 in 2003 and a high of 1,234 in 2004.

Falls are the most common cause of death in the industry. In 2006, 428 workers died in falls, compared to 394 in 2005 and 445 in 2004.

But the numbers still point to improvement. In an industry that employs more than 13 million workers, the fatality rates are relatively small. The BLS estimates that workplace fatalities were cut 75 percent since 1970, the year the federal government created the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to monitor working conditions.

Safety precautions are taught, practiced and followed, but even perfect technique is no guarantee next to 220,000 volts or standing three stories in the air.

By its nature, construction is dangerous. Numbers aren’t needed to reach that conclusion.

The following fatality rates represent the nationwide number of fatal occupational injuries per 100,000 workers.

Structural Iron/Steelworkers
2006 fatality rate of 61.0

A few years back, Mike Grimslid smashed out all of his teeth erecting a building in Janesville. The ironworker was bolting on one floor when he slipped and fell to the next floor down.

“That was my own fault,” said Grimslid, apprentice coordinator for Ironworkers Local 383 in Madison. “I should have been tied off.”

But for guys like Grimslid, fall protection and other safety measures haven’t always been part of the job. He started as an ironworker 40 years ago, and it was only in 2000 that the industry implemented measures to prevent falls like the one that injured Grimslid. Now, new employees are required to take precautions that veteran workers weren’t taught at the start of their careers.

“When my generation is completely retired, there will be a different attitude about safety,” Grimslid said. “The younger guys are more aware.”

But for all of the safety measures, ironworkers still face danger. Last year, 36 of the approximately 59,000 ironworkers in the country died on the job, resulting in the highest fatality rate in the construction field and one of the highest among all jobs, according to the BLS.

“There is a lot of risk, but you certainly don’t dwell on it,” Grimslid said. “You go about your work and try to make every step you’re taking a safe step.”

Electrical Power-Line Installers and Repairers
2006 fatality rate of 34.9

In February, a member of Electricians Local 2150 in Menomonee Falls died while repairing a power line near St. Louis, said Dan Sherman, the local’s business manager. The worker fell when the 90-foot bucket truck he was working in collapsed.

An investigation found the worker was unfamiliar with the truck and failed to insert a pin.

“You can’t take your eye off the ball for one minute,” said Sherman.

If workers follow precautions for working near high voltages, often at heights and in bad weather conditions, they’ll be OK, he said. If any step is missed, the results can be disastrous.

“In line construction, a lot of injuries can be attributed to lack of attention,” said Sherman, who was a lineman for 12 years. “There’s not a whole lot of leeway.”

Despite having to work around far higher voltages than in the past, Sherman said, there are fewer injuries today then when he started in the business. Workers meet for “tailgates” before jobs to make sure they’re on the same page. They also wear better clothing and follow more stringent safety rules, he said.

Last year, 38 of the 109,000 power-line workers in the country died at work. That rate was the second highest among all construction jobs, according to the BLS.

Roofers
2006 fatality rate of 33.9

About five years ago, workers with Great Lakes Roofing Corp., Germantown, were using a crane and Dumpster to pull materials off a roof. Without warning, the jib on the crane broke and sent the Dumpster plummeting to the ground.

“There was no warning,” said Robert Snook, equipment and materials manager for Great Lakes. “It could have been a big problem.”

Falling Dumpsters might be rare in the roofing profession, but falling roofers is an all-too-common problem. While they rarely topple off the edge of buildings, roofers face serious risks of falling through skylights, plummeting through patches of old roofing or losing their balance on ladders.

“Gravity doesn’t stop working,” Snook said. “You just have to keep in mind what you’re doing.”

At Great Lakes, Snook said, project leaders meet every morning at 7 to review safety aspects of jobs and address potential hazards, such as snow or ice. Also, the company retrains its employees on safety measures once a year and uses incentive programs to reward periods without accidents or injuries.

“Our main priority is everybody makes it home at the end of the day,” he said.

Last year, 82 of the approximately 242,000 roofers in the United States died on the job. That rate was the third highest in the construction industry, according to the BLS.

Waste Management,
Remediation Services
2006 fatality rate of 22.5

Mike Robinson, president of Robinson Brothers Environmental Inc., Waunakee, works around hazardous waste. But, for the most part, asbestos, lead, PCBs and other toxic materials aren’t the dangerous part of his job.

“Electrical, slips, trips, falls … it’s the other things where we run into danger,” he said.

This spring, Robinson Brothers learned this sad reality firsthand, Robinson said. A 35-year-old employee fell off the third step of a ladder while removing pipe for a project at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. As he fell, his hard hat fell off, and he hit his head on the ground. The death was ruled an accident.

“Never, in 40 years of working in the business, had I had one of those,” Robinson said. “It’s a sad day in our history.”

Robinson said safety training is more important today than when he got into the business. Not only do remediation workers have better clothing and ventilators, they’re taught to be more aware of the risks on any job site.

He said that as a laborer, he dug 20-foot trenches without shoring the walls and worked at heights without harnesses. If any of his employees took those risks today, Robinson said, he’d fire them.

Last year, 77 of the estimated 342,000 waste management and remediation workers in the country died at work. That rate was the fourth highest in the construction industry, according to the BLS.

Construction Laborers
2006 fatality rate of 21.1

Tom Fisher’s brother died in a construction accident. It was 1978, and he was working alone in an ice storm building a Klinke Cleaners in Madison.

Ice froze on the pedals of a bobcat and the bucket pinned him.

“In today’s world, I would hope it would never happen again,” said Fisher, president and business manager of the Wisconsin Laborers District Council in Waunakee.

“You’ve got to have someone working with you.”

Fisher started working construction in 1967. On his first job, he said, he dove out of the way of a driver who ran through a barricade. It’s a common story for laborers.

“You’re a target out there,” Fisher said about road construction. “It just takes one split second, and you make a mistake.”

But apprenticeships and cooperation between OSHA officials, police, contractors and labor leaders have led to safety improvements.

Wisconsin Laborers just opened a 50,000-square-foot training facility in DeForest to train workers in the construction trades. All 35 classes at the facility emphasize safety to protect the worker and create a more productive work site.

“You can’t just take a person off the street and put them on a construction site,” Fisher said. “It’s too dangerous.”

Last year, 360 of the 1.69 million general laborers in the country died on the job. That rate was the fifth most in the construction industry, according to the BLS.