Report: Construction Related Deaths Increased in 2015

As the construction labor shortage rages on throughout the industry, there have been concerns of how overworked employees or undertrained staff may affect job site safety.  Although there’s no definitive proof that this problem is causing an increase in construction deaths and injuries, recently released Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) data shows trends pointing in the wrong direction.

Year over year, fatal occupational injuries in 2015 rose by more than 4% in the construction industry versus 2014, according to the BLS.  Fatalities increased to a total of 937, from 899 the previous year.  Rates also climbed to 10.1 per 100,000 full-time equivalent workers, from 9.8.  The 937 deaths were the highest for the construction industry since 2008, when there were 975 reported fatalities.

Across all industries, an annual total of 4,836 workplace deaths in 2015 was the highest since 2008. Transportation, such as roadway incidents involving motorized land vehicles made up the largest portion of all fatalities, with 1,264, roughly 25% of all fatalities.  This highlights the importance of not only keeping workers safe while driving for their job, but also keeping workers safe from other motorists. Slips, trips, and falls accounted for the second highest cause of death, totaling 800 in 2015.

The negative trend has certainly piqued the interest of several government entities, including OSHA.  OSHA has not only increased their fines for the first time since 1990, they’ve introduced a new rule that would require companies to make their injury records public.  OSHA also recently released data that showed construction trench related deaths have doubled in 2016, as compared to 2015, which is not a good sign for the BLS’ 2016 fatality report.