Falling from a scaffold or an unprotected opening, being struck on the head by a falling object, or simply being hit by a moving object on a construction site are just some examples of why construction site accidents are the leading cause of work place traumatic brain injuries and death in the United States.
According to the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), the construction industry has the highest incidence of TBI among all industries in the United States.
The leading cause of traumatic brain injury related injury and death was from falls especially from roofs, ladders, accounting for approximately 50% of all construction-related traumatic brain injury hospitalizations.
Falling objects and lack of adequate protection were also cited as a significant cause.
Construction sites are dangerous places to work and the responsibility for construction site safety rests upon owners and general contractors responsible for providing construction workers with a safe place to work.
Contractors and subcontractors who take short cuts, fail to maintain their equipment, fail to properly train workers, and fail to perform proper inspections need to be held accountable for the injuries that result.
More attention needs to be placed on preventing these occurrences from happening.
Although most construction sites now have safety officers responsible for safety coordination, these accidents continue take place because of placing profits over worker safety.
It is not enough to have a general safety plan in place. There must be proper planning for each specific activity contemplated and the plan must be enforced with proper inspections, workers receiving proper safety training and being furnished proper safety equipment.
Falls can be prevented by providing proper harnesses and barrier protection. But workers must be furnished with the proper means to tie off. Providing a harness without a proper anchor point is not providing proper or adequate protection.
Allowing openings to exist without proper barriers is not providing proper or adequate protection.
Providing a construction worker with a hard hat without ensuring that objects are properly secured while being moved, hoisted, and during demolition activities is not providing proper or adequate protection.
Providing ladders not of the proper height, in poor condition, and without proper support is not providing proper or adequate protection.
In our personal injury practice, we have seen many cases of traumatic brain injury on construction sites caused by contractors and subcontractors failing to take proper and adequate safety precautions.
Because the best cure for a brain injury is prevention, proper planning, and vigilant adherence to safety on construction sites is necessary to prevent these occurrences from happening.
And when these brain injuries take place, construction workers must be furnished with proper medical, rehabilitation care and support services. Early intervention can help to minimize the long-term effects of a TBI, but the long-term physical, cognitive, emotional and behavioral consequences must be adequately dealt with.
The restrictions placed upon workers seeking qualified medical care by workers compensation boards and insurance companies needs to be examined and corrected.
Many workers are not receiving needed care and services because of these restrictions, and difficulties that providers have in receiving compensation for their services.