Construction, both residential and commercial, is big business in both Indiana and Illinois. Economically, a building boom is forecast for the next few years in our part of the country as an even greater number of construction projects are in the works. For more, read: Construction Accidents: Hurt or Killed Working Construction in Indiana or Illinois and Fatal Road Work Zone Accidents in Indiana and Illinois (discussing new state and federal infrastructure projects).
Deadlines are everything here. Every construction project in Illinois and Indiana is carefully monitored to maximize profits by meeting or beating a time schedule. This calendar is vulnerable to variables like weather and labor productivity that can delay progress and increase costs. The pressure to meet deadlines in the face of scheduling challenges can mean that construction workers in a variety of trades are pressured to work faster to get their jobs done.
It can also mean that work sites can become overcrowded with an unacceptably high number of craftsmen from several different trades working simultaneously in a relatively small area, in what has become known within the industry as “trade stacking.”
Why is Trade Stacking Dangerous for Construction Workers?
Trade stacking happens when the Powers-That-Be for a construction project decide that the more workers on the site doing their jobs at the same time, the faster things will be completed and the faster deadlines will be met. From their perspective, trade stacking is a means of maximizing profits.
It is rarely a part of the initial project design. Trade stacking happens because of things like change orders; changes in the scope of work; the need for rework; project delays due to weather; and poor planning at the outset.
The result is more construction workers on the job in a specific area of the job site, working on a variety of tasks. This “stacking” of work crews causes each of these workers more stress. It becomes much easier to be distracted. Stress and distraction are known causes of construction site accidents.
Overcrowding on the construction site is simply an invitation for injury which may be serious or fatal for the construction worker.
Overcrowded Work Sites and the Employer’s Failure of Duty to Keep Workers Safe
No construction project in Indiana or Illinois should proceed without an attitude of ‘safety first’ on the part of management and workers alike. Everyone should understand the dangers of stress and distraction on the jobsite and work together to minimize it.
When deadlines and productivity issues conflict with safety concerns, safety should control the employer’s decisions not only morally but legally.
Nevertheless, all too often GCs, subs, site managers, and others overseeing construction workers and crews will decide that overcrowding will be acceptable in their situation. This happens in the face of long-established and well-known legal duties placed upon employers to keep workers safe from harm on the work site.
Companies (and their insurance carriers) understand worker safety regulations of state and federal law and that overcrowding or trade stacking goes contrary to them, as well as the clear standard defined by Congress in what is known as the federal “General Duty Clause,” Section 5(a)(1) of the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970:
Each employer shall furnish to each of his employees employment and a place of employment which are free from recognized hazards that are causing or are likely to cause death or serious physical harm to his employees.
For more on employer’s duties of safety and care towards their workers, read:
- Serious or Fatal Slip and Fall Injuries: The Employer’s Duty of Care
- 2021 Top Ten List of OSHA Safety Violations: Known and Unresolved Accident Dangers Facing Workers Today.
Bodily Injuries in Construction Site Trade Stacking Accidents
Safety agencies and advocates for construction workers hurt on the job are well aware there remains a popular attitude within the construction industry that regulatory safety standards are too time-consuming, or they are unnecessarily expensive, or they don’t jive with those who understand the complexities of construction from a boot-on-the-ground perspective.
This cavalier approach to keeping workers safe must change. Today, the sad truth is that statistics confirm construction workers are employed in one of the most dangerous industries in this country, with almost half of construction worker fatalities involving death from falls on the job site. Read, “Most Dangerous Jobs in the Country Exist Within the Construction Industry,” written by Nikki Johnson-Bolden and published by OHS Online on October 15, 2020.
Compressed schedules and trade stacking contribute to the dangers facing construction workers today, and any serious or fatal construction site accident should include an investigation into whether or not an overcrowding job site contributed to the incident.
- Was a fall off a scaffold caused by a distraction in an overcrowded work area?
- Did a construction worker die in a trench accident because too many tradesmen were working too close together?
- Did a ladder get bumped and cause a fatal fall in a trade-stacked job site?
- Was overcrowding a contributing factor in a deadly forklift crash?
Each worker accident on a construction site in Indiana and Illinois must be given its proper independent evaluation. Experts may be needed to assess the events that surrounded the accident itself, including not only the condition of equipment and the cleanliness of the area, but how many people were on the job site at the moment the injuries occurred.
The state laws of Indiana and Illinois provide avenues for justice to those construction workers and their loved ones who have been seriously injured or killed in an on-the-job accident. In some instances, federal laws may also provide legal redress.
Sadly, construction workers in Indiana and Illinois are vulnerable to bodily harm in a work accident caused by an employer’s breach of the duty of care to keep them safe, which includes preventing an overcrowded, trade-stacked work area. Profits will be prioritized over people with tragic results.
For more, read:
- Work Accidents: Dangers of Serious or Fatal Injuries on the Job Because Safety Costs Too Much
- The Increasing Danger of Dying on the Job: Fatality Risk Just Keeps Growing for Workers
Construction workers are to be respected as professionals working in notoriously risky occupations for the benefit of us all. It is infuriatingly unacceptable that trade-stacking continues to be allowed by those in charge of residential and commercial construction projects in both Illinois and Indiana. Please be careful out there!
