A look at falls, slips, and trips in the construction industry

The National Safety Stand-Down to Prevent Falls in Construction runs from May 6 through May 10 and highlights fall hazards and fall prevention in the construction industry. In 2022, nearly 1 in 5 workplace deaths occurred in the construction industry and 38.4 percent of these deaths were due to falls, slips, and trips. The construction industry accounted for close to half, 47.4 percent, of all fatal falls, slips, and trips in 2022.

Within the private construction industry, nonfatal workplace falls, slips, and trips that required at least one day away from work occurred at an annualized rate of 31.5 per 10,000 full-time workers in the 2-year 2021–2022 period. The rate across all private industry was 22.6. Nonfatal falls to a lower level that required at least one day away from work happened at an annualized rate of 13.9 in the construction industry, while the overall rate for private industry was 4.6.

These data are from the Injuries, Illnesses, and Fatalities program. To learn more about injuries and illnesses in the workplace, see “Employer-reported Workplace Injuries and Illnesses — 2021–2022.” We also have more charts on nonfatal work injuries and illnesses. To learn more about fatal work injuries, see "National Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries in 2022." Also see charts of fatal occupational injuries data.