MIPS It’s the nature of the work. Construction is no easy task – it involves lifting, transporting materials, operating equipment, drilling, hammering and a host of other duties. It often involves manual, challenging work that is often dangerous. The nature of those tasks puts workers at risk for a variety of injuries, from slips and falls to burns and machinery collisions. Construction workers experienced the second-highest rate of fatal injuries from 2015-2109, after transportation workers, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries, published in December 2020. And that number was up from previous years. Construction and extraction workers had a 6% increase in fatal injuries in 2019, to 1,066 deaths. That’s the highest number since 2007.