The construction industry is a major contributor to the U.S. economy, consisting of over 7.6 million workers and creating $1.4 trillion worth of property assets annually.
Construction is also a high-risk industry. While construction workers make up only 6 percent of the U.S. labor force, they make up approximately 20 percent of worker deaths. For example, more than 1,000 construction workers died on the job in 2020.
Construction workers sustain head and other types of injuries from various accidents, including height-related accidents, where workers fall from ladders or are struck by falling objects; demolition accidents, where workers are injured by explosives, trips and falls, fires and explosions; and crane and forklift accidents.
Serious construction injuries cost the United States $5 billion annually in health care, lost income, reduction quality of life and lost production—not to mention $2.5 billion annually for worker compensation claims.
According to Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), construction companies save $4 to $6 for every $1 invested in safety programs. Because most construction accidents cause head injuries, wearing a hard hat is essential for preventing injury and is now required by OSHA .
Still, many workers do not wear the safety hats that their employers must provide. They may feel they are too hot, too heavy, too bulky, too loose, too ugly, too uncomfortable … or all of the above. Even when they are required to wear hard hats, workers often take off the hats as soon as their manager is not watching. Therefore, companies can find themselves in the no-win situation of spending a lot of resources to make sure their workers wear hard hats consistently or facing the expensive consequences of worker injuries.
A technology recently developed by AMC Bridge will free construction businesses from this conundrum.
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