Occupational Safety

Highways

Between 1992 and 1998 there were 841 fatalities among highway and road construction workers in the U.S. The majority of these fatalities occurred in work zones, with vehicle and equipment-related incidents listed as the predominant cause of death.

Among the 492 work zone fatalities, the most common sources of injury were trucks (45%), road grading and surfacing machinery (15%), and cars (15%). It should come as no surprise that one of the biggest hazards to highway workers are motorists who do not exercise caution while driving. In 318 of the 465 vehicle and equipment-related fatalities within work zones, a worker on foot was struck by a vehicle. Victims of these events were as likely to be struck by a construction vehicle (154 fatalities) as by a passing traffic vehicle (152 fatalities). It is also interesting to note that the great majority of work zone fatality victims, 74%, were employed privately, the remainder by state or local governments (13% each).

In 110 fatalities, the victim was operating a vehicle or mobile construction equipment, and of these workers 38 were not classified in equipment operating professions.

Highway workers are also at risk of injury or death from contact with overhead power lines, falls from machinery or structures, gas line explosions, or falling objects or materials. They are prone to heat stress, sunburn, dehydration, and overheating due to working long hours in the sun and heat; hearing problems because of noise generated by the traffic, and occasional respiratory distress due to overexposure to silica, caused by cutting concrete and sand blasting, asphalt fumes and automobile emissions.