Key Heavy Construction Equipment Statistics – and What They Mean for Your Rental Business

Over 21 percent of worker fatalities in the private industry in 2018 were in the construction industry. According to a 2018 Turkish study  equipment-related occupational accidents are typically higher compared to other types of occupational accidents worldwide. 

This is especially true for the heavy construction industry where the equipment is usually huge and heavy and the consequences of accidents are severe. While the inherent risk is there, it can be mitigated with proper training of workers, vigilance on the job site, and importantly, well-maintained machinery. 

Here are some current industry statistics and what they mean for your heavy construction equipment rental business. 

Safety statistics

Heavy construction equipment, such as forklifts, cranes, derricks, and hoists, require specialized handling and small errors can cause big accidents. This is why it is crucial for operators to be properly trained and licensed. 

1. Forklifts were the source of 85 work-related fatalities deaths and 7,940 non-fatal injuries involving days away from work in 2018.
2. Cranes were the source of 33 work-related fatalities in 2017. However, this is the lowest ever to be reported since the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics started tracking fatal injuries back in 1992. The numbers have clearly been in decline when compared to around 116 fatalities per year due to cranes alone in 1992.
3. According to OSHA, powered industrial truck accidents cause approximately 85 fatalities and 34,900 serious injuries each year. It is estimated that approximately 20 to 25 percent are at least in part caused by inadequate training.
4. Out of 4,779 employee fatalities in the private industry in 2018, 1,008 (21.1 percent) were in construction. This means that one in five worker deaths were in construction.
5. There are four leading causes for worker fatalities in the heavy construction equipment rental industry, also known as the “Fatal Four”:
   – Falls (338 out of 1,008 fatalities, i.e. 33.5%)
   – Struck by an object (112 out of 1,008 fatalities, i.e. 11.1%)
   – Electrocutions (86 out of 1,008 fatalities, i.e. 8.5%)
   – Caught-in, in-between or crushed by equipment or falling structure and material (55 out of 1,008 fatalities, i.e. 5.5%)
6. Between 2011 to 2018, an average of 7.1 percent of workers had to miss work as a result of heavy construction equipment-related injury.

   Read More: Key Construction Rental Challenges and How To Solve Them

Salary and employee statistics

There are also varied trends for salaries and employment rates in the heavy construction equipment rental industry across the country. 

1. Texas has the highest level of employed industrial truck and tractor operators (68,830), followed by California (64,760) and Georgia (36,650).
2. In 2019, The District of Columbia was the highest paying state ($52,670) for industrial truck and tractor operators. The average annual salary in the United States was $37,930.
3. The lowest annual salary in 2019 for industrial truck and tractor operators went to Peurto Rico ($22,160), just short of what Guam pays ($29,260).

1. By 2028, industrial truck and tractor operators are projected to increase from 615,000 in 2018 to 642,000 employed workers.
2. In 2019, Mississippi had the highest concentration (9,250) of industrial truck and tractor jobs in the United States.

Heavy construction equipment rental market statistics

Since high-ticket construction items are  expensive to buy and store, a lot of construction companies rely on renting to save money. This ever-increasing demand has led to a steady increase in the size of construction equipment rental market size. 

1. The construction equipment rental market size exceeded $120 billion in 2019 and is projected to grow at a CAGR of over 4.5% between 2020 and 2026. Such growth, coupled with the increasing government spending on smart city projects across Asia Pacific and Europe, will create huge market opportunities for construction equipment rental services.
2. The Asia-Pacific region is projected to register the highest growth in the heavy construction equipment market from 2016 to 2021, with the Middle-East & Africa region projected to grow at the second-highest CAGR.
3. The market size of the heavy construction equipment rental industry has grown 0.2% per year on average from 2015. However, this steady growth has greatly suffered due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The market size of the heavy equipment rental industry is expected to decline -7.5 percent this year. 

Read More: After the Pandemic: Key Trends to Watch in Construction Equipment Rental

Adopt heavy construction equipment rental software to keep workers safer

How can you offer safer, more reliable heavy construction equipment and keep your rental business growing at the same time? Start by looking for heavy construction equipment rental software. Get complete visibility into your inventory and implement preventative maintenance. Automate servicing, assign maintenance tasks to team members and monitor progress. Get reminders whenever an asset’s maintenance is overdue, and view the maintenance history of all your items. 

Top-notch equipment that is well maintained will keep your employees and customers safe, and also help you save money since you won’t have to replace equipment as often. This will also enable you to practice better inventory control and ensure that you charge appropriate and proper rates to your customers for the right equipment.

You can also run customized reports to look at the usage and condition of your equipment and make insightful procurement decisions.Get instant information on depreciation, maintenance cost, and which equipment earns you the maximum revenue compared to the value it costs to maintain it.

Ready to automate maintenance and move towards greater safety? You can start by testing EZRentOut, a cloud-based heavy construction equipment rental software. EZRentOut offers construction companies seamless rental management along with a host of other features.  These include asset tracking, maintenance management, customized webstore, and much more.