Most of us are aware, though we don’t think about it much, that there are certain industries and lines of work that are more dangerous than others when it comes to the risk of work-related illness and injury. While every profession involves some risks to health and wellness, nobody will dispute that an office worker has the same level of risk as an industrial worker.

Construction workers are among those who have the greatest risk of injury on the job, for obvious reasons. A recently released Bureau of Labor Statistics report looking at 2014 statistics bears this out. According to the report, construction workers are among a group of 10 occupations for which the risk of job-related injury and illness is the highest in the nation.

The types of injuries common among construction, naturally, reflect the unique risks of construction work. According to the report, the most common types of injury among construction workers are sprains, strains and tears, followed by fractures. This is very different than, for example, the nursing profession, where back problems abound.

It is interesting to note that the report also pointed out that construction accidents most only involve men who have been on the job for between one and five years, and on Mondays between two and four hours after arriving on the job site. Those are some interesting findings, and could presumably have some value for construction employers in terms of addressing workplace injuries.

We’ll continue speaking on this issue in our next post, looking specifically at the issue of fatal workplace accidents.