By the Numbers – Struck By/Caught Between

DID YOU KNOW?

OSHA has determined that there are four main safety hazards, excluding transportation incidents, that account for a majority of all construction worker deaths each year on the jobsite. Dubbed the “Fatal Four” by OSHA, they include falls, electrocutions, being struck by objects, and getting caught in or between hazards. In 2016, 63.7% of all fatalities at construction sites were from one of OSHA’s Fatal Four.

Caught in or between hazards are caused when a worker is compressed between or gets caught in equipment or objects. It also includes when a worker is killed by getting caught, struck or crushed from materials, equipment or a collapsing structure.

According to OSHA, accidents caused by getting caught in or between objects accounted for 72 construction worker deaths in 2016, which is 7.3% of the 991 fatalities that occurred on construction sites.

Caught-in or caught-between accidents occur when someone is caught, crushed, squeezed, compressed or pinched between two or more objects. Examples include getting your hand caught in the moving parts of an unguarded piece of machinery, being buried by trench cave-ins and getting pinned between a wall and piece of heavy equipment.

These accidents are similar to struck-by accidents with the main difference that in caught-in/between accidents is a result of crushing injuries and not the initial impact as they are with struck-by accidents.

Out of 4,779 worker fatalities in private industry in calendar year 2018, 1,008 or 21.1% were in construction — that is, one in five worker deaths last year were in construction. The leading causes of private sector worker deaths (excluding highway collisions) in the construction industry were falls, followed by struck by object, electrocution, and…