A recent construction accident which claimed the life of a worker has raised concerns regarding workplace safety. Investigators with OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) were at the scene of the accident recently to find out if any safety violations may have been responsible for the fatality.
The worker was killed after becoming pinned between a trailer and the construction crane. These types of crane accidents seem to be happening more frequently, as this tragedy comes shortly after a similarly horrific crane accident in Manhattan last month.
Should More Be Done to Prevent Construction Accidents?
OSHA and similar entities have imposed numerous safety codes and regulations on construction companies, but accidents continue to happen. Penalties and fines for safety violations still rise, especially after an accident, and yet there are still fatal accidents happening all the time.
It seems that the problem is not with the rules and regulations, but rather with OSHA’s inability to properly enforce these safety policies.
If you take a walk past a construction site, you will likely witness a variety of safety violations that have become so commonplace that it’s surprising more fatalities don’t happen every day. For example, construction workers on site without proper safety gear (i.e. a helmet), improperly assembled equipment (i.e. scaffolding), or heavy machines being used for something other than their intended purpose could all be violations.
Without proper enforcement of work safety regulations by OSHA and other safety agencies, fatal work accidents will likely continue to take the lives of our loved ones working in construction.