A picture is worth a thousand words. The company Safety Director of one construction company recently received a picture that cost quite a bit more.
According to the National Safety Council (NSC), a snapshot of a construction site led to a host of safety violations.
The picture may seem harmless to many at first glance, but when you take a second to look at it you can see a number of dangers. One of the most obvious is a man standing in an opening on the 3rd floor of a building. He was merely inches from falling to the ground with no support from any kind of guard rails or fall protection systems.
Our Cooper City accident lawyers understand that construction workers face some of the most serious risks for fatal work accidents. As a matter of fact, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reports that there were close to 1,000 construction workers killed on the job in 2011. In addition, there are about 150,000 construction site accident injuries each year. Falls are the leading cause of death for these workers, which is why the proper fall protection is vital to keeping these employees safe!
There are a few other red flags in the recent picture released by the NSC. The photo also busts a worker standing on an erected scaffold. Unfortunately, the scaffold is about 20 feet up in their air — meaning a fall would almost certainly result in serious or fatal injuries. The scaffold exceeds the 4:1 height to base ration. The worker isn’t restrained and does not have any kind of fall protection. To make matters even worse, it is reported that the scaffold was never inspected by a competent person.
It’s important to remember that each and every piece of machinery used on a construction site should be inspected before each use. This inspection will help to eliminate any risks for accidents, injuries and even fatalities.
The risks in this picture don’t stop there. If you look over to the right side of it, you’ll see a forklift. It’s picking up two people on a pallet. The forklift is sitting on a dangerous embankment — moved closer to the building to gain access to higher areas!
What you might find most alarming is that one of the people on the forklift pallet isn’t even employed with the company. It’s actually the superintendent’s 16-year-old son! This was all going on while these workers were clearing the wall of excess material.
The bottom line is that workers need to be protected on the job, and it’s difficult with mindless mistakes like the ones captured in this picture. All workers working at least 6 feet above a lower level are required to have the proper fall protection. All workers need to be educated in the proper safety precautions to help to prevent fatal accidents. It’s a team effort!
Freeman & Mallard is a personal injury and wrongful death law firm that is dedicated to helping those who have been injured on the job. Call today for a free consultation. 1-800-561-7777.
More Blog Entries:
Fall Accidents Common throughout Your Work Day, South Florida Injury Lawyers Blog, August 9, 2012
Risks for Work Accidents in Parkland and Elsewhere Spike and Unemployment Drops, South Florida Injury Lawyers Blog, May 1, 2012