A recent bulletin from CPWR—The Center for Construction Research and Training shows 42.4% of construction industry deaths in 2022 happened at companies with 10 or fewer employees, according to Safety+Health magazine. The bulletin was based on data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the U.S. Census Bureau.
Additionally, workers at construction companies with 11 to 19 employees accounted for 8.1% of deaths in construction in 2022.
Other findings from the bulletin included the following.
- Fatal injuries at companies with 10 or fewer employees jumped 27.5% from 2011 to 2022. During the same period, all construction deaths increased nearly 40%.
- The nonfatal injury rate for construction employers with 10 or fewer employees was 0.8 per 100 full-time workers, which is double the rate of nonfatal injuries for companies with more than 1,000 employees.
- In 2023, 2.7 million employees were at construction companies with fewer than 20 workers, accounting for 91% of employees in the industry.
- In 2023, about 2.9 million workers were self-employed or independent contractors, which was up from 2.4 million in 2014.
CPWR said workers at small construction companies often face higher injury rates because of a lack of resources, training programs and proper equipment.
Be sure to check out NRCA’s health and safety resources to protect your workers from hazards on the job.
