Why Construction Accidents Have Become Such a Serious Issue

The more the United Sates grows, which is exponentially each year, the more construction is needed. There is a greater demand for not only housing, but business construction. More people means more industry and more industry means the greater development of land and the construction of business offices, strip malls, hospitals, buildings for entertainment such as theatres or bowling alleys, and more. While construction is good for our economy, there is sadly little regulation of the practice of construction.

The construction industry has one of the highest work injury rates of any industry. There are abundant hazards and risks and all too many construction companies that refuse to pay their workers adequate salaries, take care of them if they get injured and even refuse to report injuries or deaths if the workers happen to be illegal immigrants. Despite the many efforts of the Occupational Safety and Health Act, or OSHA, to enforce regulations within this industry, many human rights violations continue to take place every day.

One of the major reasons for this is, as previously mentioned, the large number of illegal immigrants who work in construction. But regardless of a person's nationality or citizenship status, it is wholly illegal to not pay these workers or to treat them unjustly. All workers, legal or illegal, have a right to a living wage and can pursue legal recourse in the case of employers who do not pay or provide any form of worker's compensation.

The main reasons that construction accidents are so common are:

• Highly risky work-construction workers are working with many types of machinery that can cause serious injury or even death such as cranes, rotary saws and cement rollers. They also work on sites which are unfinished and hold many, many hazards around every corner such as falling two by fours, falling roofs, nails, collapsing porches, etc. Most construction workers are also excepted to lift many very heavy objects which can throw out their backs. They are also very susceptible to high falls when working on roofs or on skyscrapers.

• Oversight-government oversight is lacking in the construction industry. This might be because there are few unions in construction, but regardless, it is one of the few extremely dangerous industries that needs help as far as regulation goes.

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