Construction Industry more deadly than Iraq war
 

At least from a US Soldier's standpoint. Since it's been such a slow day here in the politics forum I figured I'd post something yall might find interesting.

A few days ago a representative from the construction firm Bovis came and spoke to my construction safety class. Amoung other things he said that since the beginning of the Iraq war there have been more fatalities in U.S. in the construction industry than U.S. soldiers had died in combat.

He said about 25 people die every week. That's aroud 1300 a year. I looked online and found some statistics from 2003 and 2004 and his figures seemed a little high. The numbers I looked at showed almost 1200 a year. At any rate that's close to 5000 deaths by the end of 2006. According to this site to date, ther have been about 3800 U.S. casualties.

I'm not trying to make any kind of statement about the war, I just thought you guys might find it interesting.

P.S. I can find the link to where I found the construction statistics if anyone would like it.

Re: Construction Industry more deadly than Iraq war
 

There's about 100x as many people involved in the consturction industry as soldiers in Iraq and they're accomplishing a lot more.

Re: Construction Industry more deadly than Iraq war
 

it's sorta interesting, but you probably need to go a level deeper to get the real picture. My dad was a construction lifer, other family members are.. I've never heard about any deaths. I'd assume the deaths are more heavily weighted towards the more dangerous subsets of construction (high rises, chemical facilities, etc).

Re: Construction Industry more deadly than Iraq war
 

[ QUOTE ]
At least from a US Soldier's standpoint. Since it's been such a slow day here in the politics forum I figured I'd post something yall might find interesting.

A few days ago a representative from the construction firm Bovis came and spoke to my construction safety class. Amoung other things he said that since the beginning of the Iraq war there have been more fatalities in U.S. in the construction industry than U.S. soldiers had died in combat.

He said about 25 people die every week. That's aroud 1300 a year. I looked online and found some statistics from 2003 and 2004 and his figures seemed a little high. The numbers I looked at showed almost 1200 a year. At any rate that's close to 5000 deaths by the end of 2006. According to this site to date, ther have been about 3800 U.S. casualties.

I'm not trying to make any kind of statement about the war, I just thought you guys might find it interesting.

P.S. I can find the link to where I found the construction statistics if anyone would like it.

[/ QUOTE ]

This is why statistics are so dangerous in the wrong hands.

In the US, more people are killed by pigs each year than sharks.

On the other hand, however, over a lifetime, most people probably have a greater chance of getting killed by a shark than getting killed by a pig.

DUCY?

Re: Construction Industry more deadly than Iraq war
 

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
At least from a US Soldier's standpoint. Since it's been such a slow day here in the politics forum I figured I'd post something yall might find interesting.

A few days ago a representative from the construction firm Bovis came and spoke to my construction safety class. Amoung other things he said that since the beginning of the Iraq war there have been more fatalities in U.S. in the construction industry than U.S. soldiers had died in combat.

He said about 25 people die every week. That's aroud 1300 a year. I looked online and found some statistics from 2003 and 2004 and his figures seemed a little high. The numbers I looked at showed almost 1200 a year. At any rate that's close to 5000 deaths by the end of 2006. According to this site to date, ther have been about 3800 U.S. casualties.

I'm not trying to make any kind of statement about the war, I just thought you guys might find it interesting.

P.S. I can find the link to where I found the construction statistics if anyone would like it.

[/ QUOTE ]

This is why statistics are so dangerous in the wrong hands.

In the US, more people are killed by pigs each year than sharks.

On the other hand, however, over a lifetime, most people probably have a greater chance of getting killed by a shark than getting killed by a pig.

DUCY?

[/ QUOTE ]

I don't doubt it. Have you ever seen the cholesterol count of a habitual pork eater???

Re: Construction Industry more deadly than Iraq war
 

Pop quiz, how many Iraqi citizens does the construction industry kill?

Re: Construction Industry more deadly than Iraq war
 

there are 7 million construction workers in the US. there are 150,000 US troops in Iraq. delete your post now.

Re: Construction Industry more deadly than Iraq war
 

[ QUOTE ]
there are 7 million construction workers in the US.

[/ QUOTE ]

Not for long

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a2...aryjam/HW2.gif

link

Re: Construction Industry more deadly than Iraq war
 

[ QUOTE ]
there are 7 million construction workers in the US. there are 150,000 US troops in Iraq. delete your post now.

[/ QUOTE ]

No. Construction workers don't have people actively trying to kill them on a daily basis. In fact OSHA as well as most major construction companies take an active role in trying to PROTECT their employees.

Re: Construction Industry more deadly than Iraq war
 

[ QUOTE ]
it's sorta interesting, but you probably need to go a level deeper to get the real picture. My dad was a construction lifer, other family members are.. I've never heard about any deaths. I'd assume the deaths are more heavily weighted towards the more dangerous subsets of construction (high rises, chemical facilities, etc).

[/ QUOTE ]

The only breakdown I have is kind of old, but here is the breakdown for the causes of fatalities between years 1985-89:

Falls - 33%
Struck by - 22%
Caught in-between - 18%
Electrocution - 17%
Other - 10%