It’s an unfortunately familiar story: you’re flipping through the newspaper or skimming an online news source, only to see yet another article about a recent construction accident. The worker in question often fell from a great height, or was injured in connection with some fairly common piece of machinery. However, regardless of the cause, or even the result, the article likely makes you think of your family, friends and acquaintances who work in this infamously dangerous industry. And if you manage a construction company, it probably makes you think of your employees. How many could be at risk of injury or death every day?

Construction is well-known for its accidents: in 2009, more fatal injuries were caused by construction jobs than any other industry. As a result, basic protective gear such as hard hats and steel toe boots have become standard implements, but with most accidents resulting from faulty, substandard equipment, these are often insufficient. Accordingly, companies that invest in high quality equipment and construction safety training courses have been demonstrated to avoid accidents more frequently.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) advises construction companies to train their employees in a variety of safety tactics, and conducts random safety inspections every year to ensure job sites adequately protect their workers. These construction safety courses often include slip, trip and fall protection training. The latter, which typically focuses on teaching workers how to avoid dangerous situations, can be especially effective, given the high fatality rate associated with falls. Fall protection equipment can also be extremely helpful in preventing accidents. To ensure the validity and effectiveness of these measures, many companies invest in OSHA fall protection training and equipment, which is approved by the administration.

As OSHA fall protection training and other safety measures have grown in popularity, the number of fatally-injured construction workers has decreased significantly: from 2008 to 2013, 200 fewer workers were injured on average in the United States. In such an accident-prone industry, this statistic is significant. Protect your employees, friends and loved ones today by investing in proper safety measures.