Falls in Construction: The National Campaign to Prevent Them

Falls kill more construction workers than anything else. They account for one-third of all deaths on the job in the industry: in 2022, 423 of the 1,056 construction workers who died at work died in a fall. Falls are a hazard in many kinds of work, but construction has more fatal falls than any other industry — 49% of all falls nationally, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Falls from height are the leading cause of death in construction.

10-Year Anniversary of the National Stand-Down to Prevent Falls in Construction Campaign. NIOSH.

The campaign

In 2012 NIOSH and the NORA Construction Sector Council launched the National Campaign to Prevent Falls in Construction, together with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and CPWR – the Center for Construction Research and Training. It is a nationwide effort to stop falls on construction sites.

The National Safety Stand-Down

Each year the campaign holds a National Safety Stand-Down. Employers are asked to stop work for a while and talk directly with their workers about safety. Any workplace can take part: a stand-down is simply a break taken to focus on fall hazards and how to prevent them. OSHA's stand-down page explains how to join.

Materials

Every year NIOSH and its campaign partners produce a new set of infographics in English and Spanish, available on the campaign's website as PDFs or images for social media, presentations and print. NIOSH also marked the stand-down's tenth anniversary with a video, which comes with an audio-described version and a transcript.

Sources

• National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (CDC): "National Campaign to Prevent Falls," citing Bureau of Labor Statistics Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries figures.
• The film is the agency's own low-resolution copy, recovered from the Internet Archive's record of cdc.gov.