Highway Accidents On The Rise
Highway workers are especially at risk for injury from accidents caused by passing autos, construction motor vehicles and equipment. Per Lawrence J. Fine, Acting Director of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), auto accidents and accidents from equipment operating in and around highway work zones cause more than half of the worker fatalities in this industry. Each year, more than 100 workers are killed and 20,000 are injured in highway accidents and accidents in street construction zones.
To better understand these injury risks, NIOSH reviewed the current literature on highway accidents safety, analyzed data on worker fatalities in the highway and street construction industry, and held a workshop with people from government, labor, industry, academia, and state departments of transportation. Here’s what they determined:
- Highway accidents occur from the movement of construction vehicles and equipment in the highway work zones, as well as from auto accidents caused by passing motorists.
- Flaggers and other workers on foot are exposed to even higher risk of being struck by an auto or construction equipment if they are not visible to motorists or equipment operators.
- Workers who operate construction vehicles or equipment risk injury due to overturn, collision, or being caught in running equipment.
- Highway accidents happen because workers work in conditions of low lighting, low visibility, and inclement weather, and often work in congested areas with exposure to high automobile traffic and speeds.
- Asbestos
- Class Actions
- Commercial Litigation
- Defective Products
- Drug Injury
- Personal Injury
- Securities Fraud
- Toxic Exposure
- Accutane Side Effects
- Darvon and Darvocet
- DePuy Hip Recall
- Fosamax Femur Fractures
- Muscle Injury
- Sleeping Pill Dangers
- SSRI Birth Defects
- Topamax Birth Defects
- Transvaginal Surgical Mesh and Bladder Slings
- Tylenol Liver Damage
- Zocor/Simvastatin
Pending Settlements
