Construction deaths rose even as overall occupational fatalities in the U.S. decreased. OSHA finally unveils its silica rule. OSHA inspectors kept busy at construction sites around the country. These were among the top construction-related stories featured on www.ISHN.com in 2013.

Construction on half of the dozen stadiums being erected for Brazil World Cup 2014 is behind schedule – and those working on the projects say the pressure to work quickly is affecting their safety. The death of a 22-year-old worker who fell more than 100 feet on Saturday at Arena Amazonia resulted in a strike by the builder’s union and a court order halting all high work on the project, according to the BBC News.

OSHA has cited North Florida Roofing & Repair of Jacksonville with one willful, one repeat and two serious safety violations following an inspection at a job site on Ashbourne Trail in Jacksonville. The agency initiated the inspection in August as part of its local emphasis program on fall hazards.

The Roadway Work Zone Safety and Health Coalition* has formed an alliance with OSHA aimed at reducing the hazards for both workers and motorists in roadway construction zones.

If you’re in the construction industry and you’re making a New Year’s resolution to improve on-the-job safety in 2014, you might want to check out the Center for Construction Research and Training's (CPWR) new library of 52 toolbox talks on common construction hazards, which provides a short safety lesson for every week of the year.

OSHA has cited Aldridge Electric Inc. for a serious safety violation after a 36-year-old worker died from heat stroke on his first day on the job at the company's Chicago job site. The company was installing electrical conduit in an uncovered trench on the Chicago Transit Authority's Dan Ryan Red Line project.

A construction company in American Samoa that routinely neglected to ensure workers were anchored or tied off to body harnesses came in for scrutiny by OSHA after a worker suffered a fatal fall in May.

The fatal June, 2013 collapse of a four-story building in Philadelphia has resulted in OSHA violations against the contractors hired to demolish the building. Griffin Campbell, doing business as Campbell Construction, and Sean Benschop, doing business as S&R Contracting, were cited for three willful per-instance violations, following the incident, which killed six people and injured 14.

Some electrical contacts are instantly fatal, and up to 40% are ultimately fatal, according Brian James Daley, M.D, associate program director, professor, Department of Surgery, Division of Trauma and Critical Care at the University of Tennessee School of Medicine, Knoxville, Tenn., in his report, “Electrical Injuries.”

Approximately 72 percent of the construction workers killed on the job in New York City died at sites where workers did not participate in state-approved training and apprenticeship programs, according to a report released today by Public Citizen.