Struck-By Injuries and Prevention in the Construction Industry

Struck-by hazards are a leading cause of fatal and nonfatal injuries in construction, and have been defined as one of the Focus Four hazards identified by the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) (the other hazards are falls, caught-in-between, and electrocution; OSHA 2011). Struck-by injuries can occur in many different ways. To prevent construction workers from struck-by injuries, specific hazards and working environments should be taken into account for safety and health intervention programs. This Quarterly Data Report includes data on deaths and injuries from being struck by vehicles, objects, and equipment. Primary sources of struck-by injuries and vulnerable worker groups for such injuries were also analyzed and are presented in the report. Numbers of fatal and nonfatal injuries were obtained from the Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries (CFOI) and the Survey of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses (SOII), respectively. Both the CFOI and SOII are data collections of the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). In addition to the BLS data, this report introduces solutions to prevent struck-by injuries selected from a variety of sources, including OSHA, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), and CPWR.