In the U.S. alone, about 4,500 workers die each year from on-the-job accidents, many of which resulting from a failure to follow proper work practices. In an effort to increase awareness of workplace accidents, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) maintains a collection of “Fatal Facts”, summarizing workplace accidents in which one or more workers died because of improper work practices. Highlighting how simple mistakes can lead to tragic deaths and the importance of workplace safety, these summaries are gripping tales of tragedy and compelling accounts of accident prevention best practices that can save lives. Get up to date on the OSHA fatal facts and the fatalities caused by improper work practices in our detailed course developed by Mark Rossow. The present course focuses on thirty of these accident summaries that provide insight in to a wide variety of accidents that occur on the job. The accident summaries are supplemented by background information about common accidents in the construction industry as well as industrial accidents in general. Furthermore, the lessons distilled from the accident summaries are used to formulate 3 commonsense principles of accident prevention.

Learning Objectives

• Principles of accident prevention
• OSHA’s accident prevention recommendations for falls, asphyxiation, nail guns, trenches, electrocution and working near machinery
• Importance of worker training, both in competence in operating equipment and in awareness of hazards existing on a particular job site
• Importance of supervision and enforcement of proper work practices OSHA resources available for helping employers reduce hazards occurring in particular situations
• Extent and types of work-related accidents occurring in the United States
• Most frequently cited OSHA violations
• Disproportionate role played by falls in the fatal accidents totals
• Significance of having a designated competent person present on the site
• Fatal Four leading causes of construction accidents
• The wide range of workplace accidents that can lead to serious injury or death