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The article presents information about a construction safety program of Intel Corp. Recordable injuries and illnesses fell from a rate of 5.95 per 100 full-time workers in 1994 to 0.68 just five years later. Despite improved safety performance on construction sites over the years and more exchange of best practices among owners, organized labor, union and nonunion contractors, accidents such as the March 23, 2005 explosion at a BP refinery in Texas that killed 15 contractor employees in trailers remind industry officials that all is far from perfect. INSET: Small Firm Grows Helping Big Clients Build Safety Cultures.

The article focuses on the issue of industrial accidents involving linemen. The number of linemen employed by public utilities, rural electrical coops, contractors and state and local government is about 110,000, half by some measures of what it was 20 years ago. While the safety record has improved, the amount of work is growing. Existing lines must serve bigger populations and run through congested areas with plenty of trees. Union electrical contractors say that line contractor safety in the past decade has improved, as measured by incidents per 1,000 man-hours worked. INSET: What's Causing the Rash of Power Line Accidents?.

The article reports that oil giant BP PLC was aware of problems with maintenance, spending and infrastructure at its Texas City refinery well before an explosion and fire killed 15 contractor employees and injured another 170 workers in 2005. The company was working to improve safety at the time of the explosion, but catastrophic safety risks took a back seat to reducing occupational injury rates and improving procedural compliance

The article focuses on issues concerning industrial accidents involving linemen in the U.S. Only training, experience, personal protective equipment and an industry committed to safety will save them from harm. The number of linemen has dwindled to 100,000 or so out of the almost 6 million people who claim to work in the construction equipment industry. Yet there is a kind of glory to life as a lineman that belies the harsh nature of the work. Informal counts show that the number of fatalities is going up with the level of line work, currently roughly eight more deaths per year than in the late 1990s.