:: rawblogXport ::

:: Sunday, December 05, 2004 ::

Construction workers’ safety net full of holes BARBARA CLEMENTS AND DAVID WICKERT, Tacoma News Tribune, WA
It took only a second for Jose Enriquez Hernandez to die.

One minute, he was on a Puyallup roof trying to yank out a tack holding down plastic sheeting. Then co-workers say they heard the 38-year-old man scream as he fell 14 feet, slamming into the concrete below.

That year, 1999, eight construction workers, including Hernandez, fell to their death in Washington state. Over the next four years, falls claimed the lives of 16 more construction workers in the state. The deadly toll ratcheted up its pace this year, with five construction workers falling to their deaths so far – three during a four-week span in late summer.

Three construction workers die every day in the United States, with about a third of those falling from heights, making falls the chief cause of death among construction workers in any given year. In Washington state, it’s the same story. A construction worker is more likely to fall to his death than any other cause, a review of state data since 1998 shows.

posted 8:45 AM :: reference link :: 0 comments ::

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