Summer Campaign Focuses on Virginia Construction Injuries

Federal officials are launching a summer campaign to curb construction fatalities and other injuries in Virginia.

The Labor Department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration says officers in its Norfolk office will focus enforcement efforts on construction projects on military bases and other federal properties in the state.

Officials say the initiative is designed to identify and eliminate safety and health hazards at construction sites and to prevent injuries and fatalities resulting from the four leading causes of incidents. Those incidents are: falls, crushing events, electrocutions and caught-in-between events. The campaign also will target health hazards and heat illness.

Officials say that construction is a high-hazard industry, and when employers do not employ an effective safety and health program, workers are left vulnerable to serious injury and possible death.