For years, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration has identified fall protection among its top compliance priorities. Falls have been a continuing leading cause of employee injuries and deaths, especially in the construction industry. Earlier this month, OSHA announced a 20% decline in fatal falls during the prior fiscal year. This compares to an 11% decline in workplace deaths from all causes.

OSHA identified its enforcement and awareness efforts as a reason for this decline. Overall, general contractors and developers have put more resources and emphasis into assuring compliance with fall protection requirements, especially compliance by subcontractors present on the worksite.

OSHA also noted a significant drop in trenching-related fatalities, which constitute another area of enforcement emphasis. In recent years, OSHA has brought a number of high-profile willful citations and even criminal prosecutions associated with trenching injuries and deaths.

Regardless of the reasons for the declines, employers should pay continuing attention to compliance with regulations that address these two safety hazards. Hopefully these decreases mark a trend and not a blip in the injury statistics and demonstrate real benefits from the investments made by employers and regulators to reduce common safety risks.

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