When construction workers work on scaffolding in North Carolina, they face numerous potential dangers and risks. Scaffolding is one of the most dangerous places to work on in the construction field, and it comes with several unique issues.
All workers should be aware of these potential issues so they can follow safety precautions accordingly.
Falling dangers
One of the biggest dangers is the risk of both people and items falling from the scaffolding. Items falling off these platforms is much more common. However, this is exactly the reason why construction zones require hardhats. An item that falls from scaffolding more than a single story high can easily cause traumatic brain injury in anyone that it might hit due to the distance it will travel through the air.
People falling from scaffolding is a rarer event, especially given the focus of a large number of scaffolding safety features and the training that goes behind working on scaffolding on keeping people from falling. However, there are instances where someone has not received proper training properly or the scaffolding itself is faulty, which results in someone tripping, losing their balance or otherwise tumbling over the edge.
Head injuries
Another unfortunately common issue is head injuries. These can come from the aforementioned dangerous objects falling over the side of the scaffolding unintentionally. If a worker is not wearing a hardhat, such an accident can cause traumatic damage and possibly even death. However, even when wearing a hardhat, depending on what fell and how high it fell from, a worker can still end up experiencing injuries.
It is also possible for people to trip and hit their head on other parts of the scaffolding without falling off. There are many bars, platforms and other pieces that stick out slightly where workers are trying to move. If not careful when moving on scaffolding, workers can easily end up knocking their heads into something.
