Few are the occupations more perilous than opportunities offered by a construction company. Indeed, construction company workers have to deal with dangers every minute of their stay in the construction site. There’s always the hazard from the equipment they deal with, from the structures they erect, and from the exposure to the various compounds they use. This is the reason why the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) board was established, to ensure that there would be minimal risks for those employed by a construction company.
In a recent study, OSHA determined that there are over a thousand deaths from construction-related endeavors per year, almost 250,000 cases of injuries arising from the same, and almost $13,000,000,000 lost to the worker’s compensation fund during the same period. These are alarming facts, and OSHA has taken heed by imposing justifiably strict safety regulations which each construction company should absolutely observe.
The safety regulations are based on the four leading causes of death or injury of construction company workers. These are falls, electrocution, entrapment between objects, and being struck by objects. A cursory look at these causes and we’d immediately see that they are actually easily preventable with the observance of some diligence.
To enforce these safety regulations, OSHA is given visitorial powers to inspect any construction site at any time. The safety of the construction company workers is of paramount concern, and all means should be exhausted to ensure a safe working environment for them, or at the very least, the safest that can be possibly attained.
But OSHA should not be the only entity who should observe the prescribed safety precautions. Much of the responsibility also devolves upon the construction company and the workers themselves. The construction company is expected to faithfully observe federal and state laws to guarantee a safer working environment for their workers. Also, the construction company is expected to take measures of its own to adapt to the particular conditions it is working with so that the safety of its workers would better be ensured.
The workers on the other hand are expected to exercise due care and diligence with their work. They are expected to take their job responsibly, and take all necessary precautions to minimize, if not completely avoid, the dangers of their profession. If there are precautions that are not prescribed but are, to their better judgment, the best routes to take, they should have the full disposition to pursue the same or at the very least, the good sense to consult with the construction company regarding the matter.
