F E AT U R E The Economics of Construction Risk Management …and the Human and Financial Ramifications of Managing versus NOT Managing Industry and Illness Risks and Exposures by Robert Tuman, CCR Safety Consulting Taken from a recent osha.gov fatality and catastrophe list (note that OSHA is reporting deceaseds’ names and ages)
• 4/10/22 Salena Williams (62) suffered fatal injuries in fall onto sidewalk • 3/28/22 Margarito Ladezma (50) electrocuted by power lines while trimming trees • 2/27/22 Timothy Harness (54) died in trench collapse • 2/17/22 Paramjit Deol (66) died in fall from elevated conveyor line • 1/28/22 Carolyn Brooks (83) asphyxiated after becoming entangled in drill bit • 1/26/22 Samuel Martin (22) died in fall from roof • 1/10/22 William Boyer (40) died in fall from rafters These are but a few of the thousands of construction-related fatalities. From osha.gov: “Ten most frequently cited OSHA violations (FY 2021) Note the Estimated Cost per Employee to minimize the probability of a fall, lung disorder, ladder accident, chemicalrelated illness, scaffold accident, fall protection training, electrical shock or electrocution, eye and face injury, forklift training, and machine guarding. 1. Fall protection, construction ($60 for safety harness. Guardrail and covers for roof and other floor openings extra) 2. Respiratory protection, general industry (Half-face cartridge filter respirator: $36. Medical screening and fit testing approximately $125) 3. Ladders, construction (+/- $50 per employee for ladder safety training) 4. Hazard Communication, general industry (+/- $50 per employee for Hazard Communication/Globally Harmonized Systems training) T H E
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Scaffolding, construction (+/- $750 to train employees as scaffold “Qualified Persons” who build scaffolding and scaffold “Competent Persons” who inspect scaffolding) 6. Fall protection training, construction (+/- $50 per employee) 7. Control of hazardous energy (Lockout/Tagout), general industry ($100 for Lockout/Tagout station equipped with locks and tags, +/$50 per employee for Control of Hazardous Energy- Lockout/Tagout training) 8. Eye and face protection, construction ($1 each for safety glasses- volume discount. $20 per employee for face shield) 9. Powered industrial trucks (construction forklifts and warehouse-type forklifts), general industry (+/- $100 per participant for Powered Industrial Truck training and certification) 10. Machinery and machine guarding, general industry (+/- $50 per employee for machine guarding and Lockout/Tagout training) To get a better idea of the costs of construction-related injuries and deaths vs. the costs to contractors to reduce the probability of accidents and injuries, here are statistics from the National Safety Council’s 2020 “Work Injury Costs” (https://injuryfacts.nsc.org/work/ costs/work-injury-costs) National Work Injury Costs
• Cost total--- $163.9 billion • Cost per worker---$1,100 • Cost per death---$1,310,000 • Cost per medically-consulted injury---$44,000
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Time Lost Due to Work-Related Injuries Days Lost:
• Total---99,000,000 • Total due to injuries---65,000,000 • Total due to injuries in prior years---34,000,000 • Total in future years from 2020 injuries---50,000,000
Indirect Costs of Work-Related Injuries Interruption of work and loss of productivity: “Bob, can you come down. We had a bad accident.” My client, a large concrete contractor pouring 4 million square feet of concrete at a huge shopping mall under construction, had 7 guys go down when a deck collapsed. The investigation found that the ironworkers had not fully connected several “seats” holding the corrugated metal deck to the first floor load-bearing reinforced concrete columns. When the laborers started to pour, the weight of the wet concrete caused one end of the deck to collapse. Fortunately, no one was severely injured, but employees sustained cuts and bruises when they slid off the deck. EMT’s arrived within minutes, followed several hours later by OSHA Compliance Officers who camped out for 5 days investigating the accident. Local building officials joined the investigators, as did the insurer’s investigators, owner and General Contractor’s representatives, and a large area of the jobsite was closed down for at least a week, as all wanted to ensure that all “seats” were adequately secured. This created a chill, and increased the anxiety level for all workers. The owner and General Contractor were forced to extend the occupancy date at least 3 months, taking it past the busy Christmas shopping season.
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