I think the biggest aid in the prevention of accidents and minimization of injury in these accidents is in the hands of the workers and job supers. If you see something that is unsafe do something about it. My wife used to be the crazy lady that threw broken or field built ladders in the dumpster and confiscated defective extension cords. Everyone, wears a hard hat, no matter who you are (even the inspectors) and you need safety glasses if you are working around flying stuff. She was a fanatic about keeping the job site clean. You may fall off the ladder but you are landing in soft sand, not rebar and broken block. It may have seemed excessive but their accident rate was lower, simply because it got everyone thinking about safety.
She had some "incidents" but no "accidents" in 5 years and 200 houses.
