Construction Injury - Fall Throughs - Deaths and Injuries Caused by Falls Through Roof and Floor Openings and Surfaces, Including Skylights

Fall Through accidents are one of the most dangerous and common construction site accidents. It is the safety managers responsibility to make sure all walkways are safe. If you have been injured in a fall-through construction accident, recieve a FREE case evaluation by filling out this simple form today.

Occupational injuries and fatalities caused by falling is a serious problem throughout the U.S. Analyses of data from the Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries prepared by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) indicate that during the 7-year period, 1992 through 1998, a total of 4,507 workers died as a result of a fall. Of these, 3,964 (88%) involved a fall to a lower level. An important sub-set of the "falls to a lower level" category involves workers falling through an existing opening in the floor or roof, or through floor or roof surfaces, including skylight fixtures already installed. During this 7-year period, 447 workers lost their lives by falling through something - 136 deaths occurred when workers fell through an existing roof or floor surface, 198 workers died by falling through existing openings (e.g., openings created for stairs, elevators, or skylights), and 113 died when they fell through already-installed skylight fixtures.

In addition to fatalities, numerous injuries result from these "fall-through" events. Because of the circumstances associated with these incidents, the resulting injuries are among the most severe cases, in terms of median number of "days away from work" (DAFW). Analyses of other BLS data (i.e., Survey of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses) indicate that 16,251 injuries occurred during the 6-year period, 1992 through 1997 (latest available data). The total DAFW related to these injuries was calculated to be 259,258. Data analyses revealed that the median number of DAFW (across all six years) were 13, 12, 43, 19, and 33 for falls through (a) existing floor openings, (b) floor surfaces, (c) existing roof openings, (d) roof surfaces, and (e) skylights, respectively. These analyses highlight the significance of falls through work surfaces, and suggest the need for injury reduction through modifying current work practices and developing appropriate engineering controls.

We will present more detail on these injury patterns and discuss opportunities for prevention of struck-by injuries. This group of struck-by injuries differs from those that would be defined by E-codes or BLS groupings alone; the implications of this will be discussed, and results compared to an analysis based on the BLS classification.

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see also:

Fatal Work Injuries 2007 National Census of Fatal Occupational Work Injuries
Personal injury law firm with 2007 stats on U.S. fatal work injuries

Struck-By Construction Injury - Struck-bys - Construction Worker Struck-by Injuries
Struck-by injuries: a leading cause of fatal injuries in construction.

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