Like most people in Woodland Hills, you likely view workplace accidents as just that: accidents. Given that most believe it impossible to anticipate when an accident will occur, you may be more than willing to give your employer the benefit of the doubt when it comes to protecting you from them.
Yet as many of our past clients here at Lewis, Marenstein, Wick, Sherwin & Lee, LLP can attest to, employers often have more information than you realize when it comes to the potential of workplace accidents. This is especially true in the construction industry, where a majority of workplace fatalities often result from the same causes.
“The Fatal Four”
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration refers to these common causes as “the Fata Four,” and they include:
- Falls
- Electrocutions
- Falling objects
- Crush injuries
In this particular context, “crush injuries” refer to incidents where workers become entangled in heavy machinery or caught in-between equipment and work surfaces.
The common threat among each of these caused is that careful planning may work in mitigating the risks they pose. Yet safety violation statics imply an alarming indifference to the Fatal Four on the part of many general contractors.
Common construction site safety violations
Inadequate fall protection, control of hazardous energy and improper machine and machinery guarding routinely rank among the most common safety infractions cited by OSHA regulators. These each relate to hazards included in the Fatal Four (despite the fact that the aforementioned causes account for almost 60% of construction fatalities annually). Information related to these dangers is readily available to all employers. Knowing this, you can see how a lack of safety measures aimed at preventing injuries from these causes on your job site could equate to employer negligence.
You can find more information on assigning liability for workplace accidents throughout our site.