It is that time of year again where both employers and workers are invited to participate in the fourth annual National Safety Stand-Down to Prevent Falls in Construction during the week of May 8-12, a combined effort by OSHA, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), among other partners. This event offers a unique opportunity for public and private sector, small and large business employers to stop work and dedicate time to openly discuss fall hazards and how to prevent them with their workers.

Three companies at a multi-employer construction site in Alaska have been cited for safety violations, while a fourth was not because it took quick action when workers were endangered. The Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development issued a total of 24 citations to Price Universal Energy, Gregory International, Inc., Quanta Power Generation, Inc. for violations at the Municipal Light and Power Plant 2A Expansion project in Anchorage. Fines for the three companies totaled $882,000.

Road workers in Georgia will get some much needed safety training next week, thanks to state-level participation in National Highway Work Zone Awareness Week, April 3-7. The Federal Highway Administration, the state of Georgia, local government organizations and employers are partnering with OSHA to sponsor one-hour events to train road workers on the dangers of distracted drivers, flying debris and other objects and activities that endanger those who toil in highway work zones.

A Manhattan construction site that has already seen numerous injuries and complaints about unsafe conditions saw another worker injury last week – when a worker tripped while trying to avoid a crane.

When a framing contractor on an apartment project in San Antonio, Texas balked recently at having its workers use fall protection – based on the argument that he never used fall protection in residential construction – the construction management company overseeing the project lowered the boom.

This month is National Ladder Safety Month, but ladder safety is a year-round priority at NIOSH where scientists study how to prevent ladder-related falls. In a new study published in the journal Applied Ergonomics, a “walk-through” ladder was comparable in safety to regular ladders tested in the NIOSH Virtual Reality Laboratory in Morgantown, West Virginia.

Five people were injured in a construction accident in Yonkers, New York City this winter. Authorities say a Bobcat machine fell through the roof of the National Wholesale Liquidators store on Central Park Avenue, with the Yonkers Fire Department calling it a "major roof collapse." "We just looked up, and the whole roof was collapsing on top of the people," customer Alejandro Tellez said.

Fatalities caused by falls from elevation continue to be a leading cause of death for construction employees, accounting for 350 of the 937 construction fatalities recorded in 2015 (BLS data). Those deaths were preventable. The National Fall Prevention Stand-Down raises fall hazard awareness across the country in an effort to stop fall fatalities and injuries. This year the Stand-Down is May 8-12.

A trench collapse in San Antonio, Texas last week killed a worker and endangered crews and co-workers who were trying to save him.