Did you ever wonder which were the most dangerous construction projects in history?

By David McClelland

It turns out that the construction of the Mackinac Bridge (1957), connecting the lower and upper peninsulas of Michigan, and the construction of the Empire State Building (1930) in Manhatten, New York, were not the most dangerous projects. Five (5) workers lost their lives during each of those projects. By comparison, eleven (11) men lost their lives during the construction of the Golden Gate Bridge (1933 - 1937) connecting northern San Francisco and Marin County, California.

77 men died while Washington's Grand Coulee Dam was built. It was completed in 1942.
96 men died during the construction of Hoover Dam, on the border of Arizona and Nevada, and completed in 1935.
60 men died during the original construction of the World Trade Center, completed in 1970 in Manhatten, New York.

The greatest loss of the life during a construction project, may have been on the Panama Canal, a 48 mile span linking the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. Original construction, under French leadership, was abandoned in 1880 after 21,990 men died. It was later completed in 1914 after another 5,600 men lost their lives while building the Canal. However, it appears that many of those deaths were from various diseases rather than directly a result of the construction, but accurate records no longer exist. The Great Wall of China, which was built in two phases, hundreds of years apart, may have had great losses also, but there are no records concerning those huge construction projects.

By contrast, the latest and tallest skyscraper, the 2,717 foot, Burj Dubai tower in Dubai was completed 10/1/09 and cost the life of one (1) construction worker. The owners of this project took extraordinary safety measures to prevent injuries and fatalities.

These mammoth construction projects are inherently dangerous, but, as the recent Burj Dubai tower project demonstrated, extraordinary precautions can prevent the loss of many lives. Now, you know about some of the most dangerous construction projects.