After Increased Construction Site Deaths, Industry Giant Pushes For Heightened Safety Standards
With construction job site deaths on the rise across NYC, a leading construction firm is pushing federal regulators to adopt an increased safety policy it says has saved 20 lives since 2011.
Gilbane Building says all construction firms should adopt its rule that requires workers to attach a safety harness whenever they climb more than six feet off the ground, Crain’s reports. Currently steel workers are required to tie off only when they climb higher than 25 feet and construction workers must tie off above 10 feet.
On the other hand, Gilbane’s workers must tie off above six feet and they have to use two attachments anytime they climb scaffolds higher than that. Unfortunately, despite what safety rules are in place workers often ignore them in the macho-minded construction industry.
Still, an increased focus on safety can’t hurt—between July 2014 and last summer 10 people died in construction accidents. That’s up from an average of 5.5 over the previous four years. [Crain’s]
