Most construction accidents have fairly basic causes, such as unsafe equipment, work methods or site conditions, workers not using the safety equipment they were given, a poor attitude towards safety and a lack of proper training.

Problems often arise with scaffolds, ladders, excavation and heavy equipment, but injuries or deaths may also be caused by burns, explosions, poisoning and electrocution.

Responsibility

OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) is the federal agency responsible for enforcing federal laws governing safety and health in the workplace. The prime contractor is always responsible for the job safety on the entire site and for compliance with all OSHA regulations. The reason is that prime contractors have the most influence on safety issues because they monitor and coordinate the work, and often provide equipment that is shared by subcontractors and employees.

If the prime contractor farms out work to a subcontractor, this subcontractor also assumes responsibility for job safety and for following OSHA rules that apply to the part of the construction project the subcontractor performs. However, the prime contractor is also still responsible for that part, so in effect, they are both responsible. For instance, if a prime contractor is building a restaurant and hires a subcontractor to build the kitchen, both the prime contractor and the subcontractor are responsible for the safety of all employees working on the kitchen no matter who has hired the employee.

Workers