Hispanic and Non-Hispanic Wage Differentials: Implications for United States Construction Industry

The shortage of skilled construction workers is considered to be one of the greatest challenges facing the United States construction industry. To meet workforce demands, the industry is increasingly relying on Hispanic construction workers. The result has been a strong increase in Hispanic construction workers, especially in the Western and Southern United States where Hispanics already comprise 31 and 24% of the total construction workforce, respectively. Using data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistic’s Current Population Survey (CPS), this study examines relative differences in hourly wages between Hispanic and non-Hispanic construction workers. The finding suggests that Hispanic workers earn less than their non-Hispanic counterparts controlling for experience, occupation, schooling, and geographical location. The implication of the increasing size of the Hispanic construction workforce with respect to industry real wages and education needs is discussed, along with the workforce’s ability to adopt future technologies and workforce strategies.     

Analysis of Occupational Injuries and Fatalities in Electrical Contracting Industry

The purpose of this paper was twofold: (1) to determine jobs/tasks associated with current injury, illness, and fatality trends in the electrical contracting sector of the construction industry; and (2) to identify current safety practices associated with the prevention of these injuries, illnesses, and fatalities. To achieve the project objectives, a survey was designed and sent to Michigan electrical contractors. To design an adequate survey, the research team first collected background information using the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics online database, published research, and contractor interviews. This paper presents and discusses the results of this study.     

Occupational Injuries and Fatalities in the Roofing Contracting Industry

The purpose of this paper is twofold: (1) to determine jobs/tasks associated with current injury, illness, and fatality trends in the roofing industry; and (2) to identify current safety practices associated with the prevention of these illnesses, injuries, and fatalities. In order to achieve the project objectives, a survey was designed and sent to Michigan roofing contractors. To design an adequate survey, the research team first collected background information using U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics online database, published research, and contractor interviews. Of the 48 roofing companies asked to participate, 24 completed the survey. The survey results indicated that hand and finger injuries due to cutting operations and back injuries due to the manual handling of heavy and bulky materials to be the most frequent roofing contracting task/injury combination. Falls from elevations as well as on the same level typically occurred when carrying heavy and bulky materials such as bundles of shingles on slippery and inclined walking/working surfaces. These findings from this study may assist safety professionals in the construction industry in making effective changes for improving safety and productivity.     

Mechanical Contracting Safety Issues

The purpose of this paper is twofold: (1) to determine jobs/tasks associated with current injury, illness, and fatality trends in the mechanical contracting branches of the construction industry; and (2) to identify current safety practices associated with the reduction of risk of these injuries, illnesses, and fatalities. To achieve the project objectives, a survey was designed and sent to Michigan mechanical contractors. To design an adequate survey, the research team first collected background information using U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics online database, published research, and contractor interviews. Fourteen of the 50 mechanical contracting surveys distributed were completed. The pilot study found eye injuries due to grinding and welding and upper extremity cuts due to sheet metal to be the most frequent mechanical contracting task/injury combination.     

Differences in Perspectives regarding Labor Productivity between Spanish- and English-Speaking Craft Workers

The influx of Hispanic workers helped the U.S. construction industry alleviate its shortage of craft workers in the last decade. In 2009, Hispanics accounted for nearly a quarter (22.5%) of the construction workforce in the United States. However, no research has been conducted to examine how various factors influence Hispanic craft workers’ productivity. This paper analyzes the data from a nationwide survey to obtain craft workers’ perspective on construction productivity. The respondents were categorized as Spanish- or English-speaking workers according to their declared primary language, irrespective of their ethnic background. The findings reveal that Spanish- and English-speaking craft workers generally agreed on the priority of the factors affecting labor productivity. However, Spanish-speaking workers rated factors associated with supervisor direction, safety, and labor more severely than English-speaking craft workers. Meanwhile, English-speaking craft workers perceived factors related to engineering drawing management as being more detrimental to productivity than did Spanish-speaking craft workers. Specifically, in comparison with English-speaking craft workers, Spanish-speaking craft workers experienced more severe issues with communicating with their supervisors, pay and monetary bonus for good performance, and lack of training on safety, health, and skills. These findings should be valuable for project management to effectively improve labor productivity of their Spanish-speaking craft workforce.     

Falls through Roof and Floor Openings and Surfaces, Including Skylights: 1992–2000

Fall-related occupational injuries and fatalities are still serious problems in the U.S. construction industry. Two Bureau of Labor Statistics databases—Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries and Survey of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses—were examined for 1992–2000. An important subset of falls-to-lower-level incidents is when workers fall through openings or surfaces, including skylights. A total of 605 fall-through fatalities occurred during 1992–2000. Also, 21,985 workers were injured seriously enough from fall-through incidents to miss a day away from work (DAFW). Fall-through injuries are among the most severe cases for median number of DAFW. Median DAFW were 35, 11, 25, 12, and 36 for fall-through roof and floor openings, roof and floor surfaces, and skylights, respectively, compared to 10 DAFW for all fall-to-lower-level incidents in all U.S. private industry. A conservative approach, which assumes that direct and indirect costs are equal, estimates a range of $55,000–$76,000 for the total cost of a 1998 DAFW fall-through injury. Current work practices should use commercial fall-prevention products to reduce the frequency and costs of fall-through incidents. These analyses have identified a subset of fall-related incidents that contribute to excessive costs to the U.S. construction industry. Researchers can use a systems approach on these incidents to identify contributing risk factors. Employers and practitioners can alert managers and work crews about these dangerous locations to eliminate these hazards that are often obvious and easy to rectify.     

Occupational injury and illness in the United States. Estimates of costs, morbidity, and mortality

OBJECTIVE: To estimate the annual incidence, the mortality and the direct and indirect costs associated with occupational injuries and illnesses in the United States in 1992. DESIGN: Aggregation and analysis of national and large regional data sets collected by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the National Council on Compensation Insurance, the National Center for Health Statistics, the Health Care Financing Administration, and other governmental bureaus and private firms. METHODS: To assess incidence of and mortality from occupational injuries and illnesses, we reviewed data from national surveys and applied an attributable risk proportion method. To assess costs, we used the human capital method that decomposes costs into direct categories such as medical and insurance administration expenses as well as indirect categories such as lost earnings, lost home production, and lost fringe benefits. Some cost estimates were drawn from the literature while others were generated within this study. Total costs were calculated by multiplying average costs by the number of injuries and illnesses in each diagnostic category. RESULTS: Approximately 6500 job-related deaths from injury, 13.2 million nonfatal injuries, 60,300 deaths from disease, and 862,200 illnesses are estimated to occur annually in the civilian American workforce. The total direct ($65 billion) plus indirect ($106 billion) costs were estimated to be $171 billion. Injuries cost $145 billion and illnesses $26 billion. These estimates are likely to be low, because they ignore costs associated with pain and suffering as well as those of within-home care provided by family members, and because the numbers of occupational injuries and illnesses are likely to be undercounted. CONCLUSIONS: The costs of occupational injuries and illnesses are high, in sharp contrast to the limited public attention and societal resources devoted to their prevention and amelioration. Occupational injuries and illnesses are an insufficiently appreciated contributor to the total burden of health care costs in the United States.     

Current methods of estimating severity for occupational injuries and illnesses: data from the 1986 Michigan Comprehensive Compensable Injury and Illness Database

National and state estimates of the severity of occupational injuries and illnesses (severity = lost work time = missed work days+restricted work days) have come from the annual Survey of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses (Survey) produced by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. However, we show that the Survey practice of collecting injury information soon after the accident year reduces substantially the accuracy of missed work day estimates, which constitute 85.3% of the Survey lost work time estimate. To develop an independent estimate of missed work days, the research team created the Michigan Comprehensive Compensable Occupational Injury Database (Michigan Database) by linking state files with injury characteristics to files with workers' compensation information for injuries occurring in 1986. The measure of missed work time (days, weeks, or years) is the cumulative duration of compensation from the "date disability commenced," noted on the first payment form, through follow-up to March 1, 1990. Cumulative missed work time has been calculated or estimated for 72,057 injured workers, more than 97% of the 73,609 Michigan workers with compensable occupational injuries in 1986 identified through the close of the study. Our "best" estimate of missed work days, to follow-up, attributable to both fatal and nonfatal compensable occupational injuries and illnesses is 7,518,784, a figure four times that reported for Michigan by the Survey. When insurance industry data on disbursements are also considered, the estimate of missed work days increases to 8,919,079, a figure 4.75 times that reported by the Survey. When insurance data on reserves for future payments are also considered, the estimate of missed work days increases to 16,103,398, a figure 8.58-fold greater than that obtained for Michigan in the Survey. The Michigan data suggest that the national Survey may have failed to identify almost 373 million of 421 million missed work days in the private sector that have resulted, or will result, from 1986 occupational injuries. The present federal/state system for estimating occupational injury severity by measuring lost work days seriously underestimates the magnitude of the problem. The current policy of obtaining incidence and severity data from the same Survey should be reconsidered. We recommend that national estimates of injury severity be obtained from representative states by using state compensation data and that such estimates be used to evaluate current prevention and rehabilitation strategies. The redesigned occupational safety and health Survey (ROSH Survey) should be revised to permit linkage to compensation data.     

NIOSH research initiatives to prevent back injuries to nursing assistants, aides, and orderlies in nursing homes

Over the past 100 years, advances in nutrition, modern medicine, public health, and a multitude of public health improvements have increased the life expectancy of U.S. residents. The fact that Americans are living longer has resulted in extensive growth in our elderly population and a rapid employment growth that delivered about 2 million new jobs between 1980 and 1989 in the health care workforce. The Bureau of Labor Statistics Injury and Illness Data for nursing homes rose from 10.7 to 18.6 injuries or illnesses per 100 full-time workers between 1980 and 1992. The injury and illness rates among nursing home workers are partly due to the physical stress of providing round-the-clock assistance with the basic activities of daily living, such as getting in and out of a bed or chair, as well as bathing and toileting. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) is conducting a series of research studies to identify strategies to reduce the risk of musculoskeletal injuries to workers in nursing homes. NIOSH has funded two laboratory evaluations of resident transferring methods and one field study in an actual nursing home. The purpose of this paper is to describe the key findings from past NIOSH research initiatives and to present an overview of future research.     

Occupational injuries among working adolescents in New York State

OBJECTIVE: To determine the number, distribution, determinants, and health consequences of occupational injuries among working adolescents in New York State. DESIGN: A retrospective, population-based analysis of New York State workers' compensation award data and the Annual Demographic File, a supplement to the US Bureau of the Census Current Population Survey. PARTICIPANTS: Adolescents, aged 14 through 17 years, who received workers' compensation awards for occupational injury from 1980 through 1987. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: (1) Numbers, types, and rates of occupational injuries in working adolescents by age, sex, industry, and occupation; (2) health consequences of injury, especially disability and death; and (3) secular trends in injury award rates. RESULTS: A total of 9656 adolescents were compensated for occupational injuries; 4201 compensated adolescents (43.5%) suffered permanent disability; 31 working adolescents died. The annual mean rate of compensated occupational injury was 28.2 per 10,000 adolescent workers. Rates were higher in males than in females and ranged from 8.2 per 10,000 in 14-year-old male workers to 46.8 per 10,000 in 17-year-old male workers. Highest rates by industry were seen in manufacturing (49.0/10,000 adolescent workers) and agriculture (46.2/10,000). Unskilled labor was the most dangerous occupation (52.3/10,000). CONCLUSION: Occupational injuries are a substantial and underrecognized contributor to the continuing epidemic of injury among adolescents.     

What Does the Construction Industry Value in Its Workers?

This paper briefly characterizes today’s United States (U.S.) construction workforce, and attempts to provide evidence for what the construction industry most values in its workers. It presents the social and demographic characteristics of a sample of 862 construction workers, from 19 project sites that were interviewed in 2002, as part of a research effort at the University of Texas at Austin, and compares them with broader-based Bureau of Labor Statistics data to establish the degree to which they represent the U.S. construction workforce. Via statistical analysis, the paper explores the relationships between workers’ attributes and how the industry compensates them as reflected in both hourly wages and average annual incomes. The statistical results reinforce what is known about the importance of years of experience; however, it also provides evidence of the importance of number of crafts each worker possessed, and computer knowledge. Less, but significant, evidence was obtained for the importance of the number of years spent with his/her current firm, craft training hours, age, or self-assessed performance.     

Health insurance and workers' compensation: the delivery of medical and rehabilitation services for construction workers

The construction industry has one of the highest proportions of workers without health insurance. The authors review the two types of insurance systems that are generally used to cover the cost of health care for construction workers in the U.S.: health and welfare funds and workers' compensation. Recent developments in health care delivery in the U.S. are discussed, as are the more comprehensive occupational medicine services offered in France, Germany, The Netherlands, and Sweden.     

Psychosocial Factors and Musculoskeletal Disorders in the Construction Industry

Musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) constitute more than half of the total injuries and illnesses within the construction industry. The aim of this study was to assess the prevalence of MSD among construction workers and identify the psychosocial and physical risk factors associated with their occurrence using an on-site survey instrument. One hundred forty seven construction workers (representing three trades) participated in the study. The 1-year prevalence of MSD was high with 61.2% reporting severe symptoms and 39.7% having some functional impairment due to MSD. Physical task requirement was the most important factor associated with MSD reflecting the physical nature of construction work. Economic and performance factors were the most stressful psychosocial factors reported and significantly increased the risk of reporting MSD. The findings of this research underscore the independent role that psychosocial factors play in the health and safety of construction workers. Understanding this role is imperative for practitioners and academics alike in the quest to make construction a safer work environment for all workers.     

Exploring Training Needs and Development of Construction Language Courses for American Supervisors and Hispanic Craft Workers

This study explores the training needs of American supervisors and Hispanic construction craft workers and describes the development, delivery, and evaluation of construction-focused training courses intended to facilitate accommodation for American supervisors and assimilation of Hispanic craft workers to the United States (U.S.) industry. A survey was conducted to better understand the adaptation issues between American supervisors and their Hispanic craft workers. As a result of the survey, two unique construction language courses were developed: English as a second language (ESL) and Spanish as a second language (SSL) for construction. Evaluation feedback from initial course offerings suggest that they were useful in terms of increased confidence and improved ability to communicate. It is anticipated that the courses developed and the training provided will improve the communication channels between American supervisors and Hispanic workers, as well as strengthen the supervisor-worker relationship as the American supervisor grows aware of the existent communication differences. A model for transferring these research findings to other cultural groups and a technology-based approach for delivering these courses to the construction site are also discussed.     

Localizing and Designing Computer-Based Safety Training Solutions for Hispanic Construction Workers

Despite the construction industry’s generally positive reaction to the use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in many of its functions, some of the profession’s key players reside in a digital divide and do not benefit from advances in technology. Hispanic construction workers, an at-risk population with high rates of workplace accidents, are affected by that divide because they rarely take advantage of available ICTs at work. One application of ICTs that can help Hispanic/Latino workers is computer-based training (CBT) for occupational safety. However, the design of CBT materials for Spanish-speaking workers needs to go beyond basic localization of existing products in English. A radical localization approach that uses participatory design sessions with construction workers and their supervisors is proposed in this paper. This case study reports that Latino workers reacted positively and retained knowledge from CBT materials, including videos with elements of humor and without graphic representations of accidents, modeled after the genre of a television situation comedy.     

Health and Safety Management within Small- and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs) in Developing Countries: Study of Contextual Influences

Considerable attention has been focused on addressing construction health and safety risks in developed economies. Sadly, the same cannot be said of developing countries in Sub-Saharan Africa where accident figures are extremely high. The aim of this study is to examine the influence of the contextual environment within which Ghanaian construction small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) manage occupational health and safety (OH&S). A questionnaire survey was administered to construction SMEs to better understand the health and safety management practices and associated problems followed up by field interviews to explore key issues identified by the survey. The results of the study highlight the institutional structure for implementing OH&S standards, prevailing economic climate, and extended family culture as challenges to the management of OH&S. The study identifies low literacy levels, low socioeconomic status of workers, owner/managers’ ignorance of their OH&S responsibilities, commitment to extended family obligations, and ineffective OH&S administration as key factors limiting the capacity of construction SMEs to manage OH&S effectively. The study concludes that effective institutional structure and an enabling socioeconomic environment are needed to enhance the OH&S performance of SMEs and advocates for more proactive OH&S management that take into consideration the work cultures of SMEs.     

Fatalities and injuries in the Kuwaiti construction industry

This paper presents an analysis of construction accidents in Kuwait along with accident causation and injuries that can be considered serious or fatal, so that corrective measures can be taken to decrease casualties, resulting in a safer construction industry. The paper evaluates the existing injury and cost reporting-investigation system of construction accidents in government agencies and private firms. This research confirms that construction is the most hazardous industry in Kuwait, with accidents accounting for 48%, 38% and 34% of all disabling injuries and 62%, 38% and 42% of all fatalities in 1994, 1995 and 1996, respectively. These rates are considered high and can be compared to construction accident statistics in the U.S.A. which accounted for 14% of all work-related deaths and 9% of disabling injuries in 1993. Based on the study, falling from a height appears to be the major cause of construction injuries and fatalities in Kuwait. Poor accident records and reporting systems hide the extent of the construction safety problem in Kuwait. In addition, many people at management level are unaware of accident-related costs and the effectiveness of a safety program in reducing project costs.     

Fatal and non-fatal childhood injuries in Metropolitan Toronto, 1986-1991

OBJECTIVE: To estimate the prevalence of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection among health care workers who donate blood. DESIGN: Point prevalence survey of blood donors. SETTING: 20 U.S. blood centers that participate in an ongoing interview study of HIV-seropositive blood donors. MEASUREMENTS: Prevalence rates for HIV in persons who reported being health care workers were measured directly for 6 of the 20 blood centers. For the other 14 centers, we derived the numerator from the interview study in the same manner used for the 6 centers; we estimated the denominator using blood collection logs at those centers and extrapolations from the survey completed at the 6 blood centers. RESULTS: Between March 1990 and August 1991, 8519 health care workers donated blood at 6 hospitals and other medical facilities. Three persons were HIV seropositive: Two reported being health care workers and having nonoccupational risk factors for HIV infection; the occupation and other possible risk factors of the third seropositive donor could not be determined. Therefore, the highest overall prevalence of HIV infection among health care worker donors at these 6 centers was 0.04% (3 of 8519; upper limit of 95% CI, 0.1%). We estimated that during the same period, approximately 36,329 health care workers were tested for HIV at all 20 centers. Twenty-seven persons infected with HIV who donated at hospitals were identified; 7 did not return for interviews, so their health care occupations could not be verified. Thus, the highest estimated overall prevalence of HIV infection among health care worker donors at the 20 centers was 0.07% (27 of 36,329; upper limit of CI, 0.1%). Of the 20 known health care worker donors, 11 reported nonoccupational risks for HIV infection; 3 of the remaining 9 health care workers described occupational blood exposures that could have resulted in transmission of HIV. CONCLUSIONS: Blood donors can serve as a sentinel cohort when evaluating the risk for occupationally acquired HIV infection. These findings suggest that among the many health care worker donors in this study, HIV infection attributable to occupational exposure was uncommon.     

Development and Initial Validation of Sustainable Construction Safety and Health Rating System

This paper presents a study to develop and validate a sustainable construction safety and health (SCSH) rating system. The rating system provides an opportunity to rate projects based on the importance given to construction worker safety and health and the degree of implementation of safety and health elements. A Delphi survey using an expert panel of 12 experienced safety and health professionals representing different sectors of the construction industry was employed to develop the SCSH rating system. The study resulted in a rating system consisting of a total of 50 safety and health elements organized into 13 categories. Each category contains safety and health elements which carry credits based on their effectiveness in preventing construction worker injuries and illnesses. The rating system was initially validated based on data from 25 construction projects and found to accurately represent the safety performance of large projects. The SCSH rating system can be used as an effective tool to develop and plan construction safety and health programs and evaluate the potential safety performance of construction projects.     

Biocompatibility, cell adhesion, and degradation of surface-modified biodegradable polymers designed for the upper urinary tract

Production agriculture is associated with a variety of occupational illnesses and injuries. Agricultural workers are at higher risk of death or disabling injury than most other workers. Traumatic injury commonly occurs from working with machinery or animals. Respiratory illness and health problems from exposures to farm chemicals are major concerns, and dermatoses, hearing loss, certain cancers, and zoonotic infections are important problems. Innovative means of encouraging safe work practices are being developed. Efforts are being made to reach all groups of farmworkers, including migrant and seasonal workers, farm youth, and older farmers.