Construction site safety

Construction site safety

The examples and perspective in this article deal primarily with the northern hemisphere and do not represent a worldwide view of the subject. Please improve this article or discuss the issue on the talk page.

A site-safety sign at a highway overpass construction site describing the mandatory safety procedures and equipment.
Construction is the most dangerous land based work sector in Europe (the fishing industry being more dangerous). In the European Union, the fatal accident rate is nearly 13 workers per 100,000 as against 5 per 100,000 for the all sector average (Source: Eurostat).
In the U.S. there were 1,225 fatal occupational injuries in the construction sector in 2001 with an incidence rate of 13.3 per 100,000 employed workers. For the same year the construction industry experienced 481,400 nonfatal injuries and illnesses at a rate of 7.9 per 100 full-time workers in the industry. Construction has about 6% of U.S. workers, but 20% of the fatalities - the largest number of fatalities reported for any industry sector.
The problem is not that the hazards and risks are unknown, it is that they are very difficult to control in a constantly changing work environment.

Construction Fatality Rates
Country/Region
Fatalities (per Annum per 100,000 Workers)
Year
Notes
EU
13.3
1996
France
12.1
1996
Germany
15.4
1996
Ireland
8.0
1996

Italy
14.4
1996

United Kingdom
3.4
2007/08

United States of America
10.8
2006

Nature of hazards

Hazards to construction workers
The leading safety hazards on site are falls from height, motor vehicle crashes,electrocution, machines, and being struck by falling objects. Some of the main health hazards on site are asbestos, solvents, noise, and manual handling activities.

Hazards to non-workers
Many construction sites cannot completely exclude non-workers. Road construction sites must often allow traffic to pass through. This places non-workers at some degree of risk.

This sign and advisory plate penetrated the windshield and roof of a car in a side-impact test crash. A safer sign would have stiffer uprights, no advisory plate and the flashing light would be moved to the point of the sign to spread the impact force.
Road construction sites are blocked-off and traffic is redirected. The sites and vehicles are protected by signs and barricades. However, sometimes even these signs and barricades can be a hazard to vehicle traffic. For example, improperly designed barricades can cause cars that strike them to roll over or even be thrown into the air. Even a simple safety sign can penetrate the windshield or roof of a car if hit from certain angles.

Applicable laws
Under European Union Law, there are European Union Directives in place to protect workers, notably Directive 89/391 (the Framework Directive) and Directive 92/57 (the Temporary and Mobile Sites Directive). This legislation is transposed into the Member States and places requirements on employers (and others) to assess and protect workers health and safety.
In the United States the Occupational Safety & Health Administration OSHA sets and enforces standards concerning workplace safety and health.

Source : http://en.wikipedia.org