Deaths Caused by Vehicles and Heavy Equipment on Construction Sites

Vehicles and mobile heavy equipment caused 213 deaths on construction sites out of 1,228 construction deaths (17.3%) in 1999. Trucks were involved in 39% of the deaths, mobile heavy equipment in 37%, and forklifts in 7%. (If two vehicles were involved in a collision, the vehicle counted was the one the worker was in.) There were an additional 113 deaths of drivers and passengers on streets and highways – 81% of the deaths involving trucks – and 9 deaths of workers on highways who were struck by vehicles. Traffic work zones for highway and street construction were the locations of 65 of the construction site deaths (31%) involving vehicles and mobile heavy equipment. These traffic work zones had more than twice the percentage of non-collision vehicle deaths compared to other construction sites (chart 39a). The non-collision vehicle deaths included overturning of vehicles and “caught in/between” incidents.