A national safety stand-down to reduce construction worker falls

doi:10.1016/j.jsr.2016.12.005

Journal of Safety Research

Volume 60, February 2017, Pages 103-111

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsr.2016.12.005 Get rights and content

Highlights

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This is the first large scale evaluation of a national construction safety campaign.
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The Safety Stand-Down reached 770,193 participants in 2014 and 1,041,307 in 2015.
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Industry stakeholders worked collaboratively to ensure nationwide participation.
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Desire to be part of a national level campaign motivated contractors and workers to participate.
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Safety and health resources are most useful when adaptable for individual jobsites.

Abstract

Introduction

Falls are the leading cause of death and third leading cause of non-fatal injuries in construction. In an effort to combat these numbers, The National Campaign to Prevent Falls in Construction began in April 2012. As the campaign gained momentum, a week called the National Safety Stand-Down to Prevent Falls was launched to draw attention to the campaign and its goals. The purpose of this paper is to examine the reach of the Stand-Down and lessons learned from its implementation.

Methods

The Occupational Safety & Health Administration offered a certificate of participation during the Stand-Down. To print the certificate, respondents provided information about their company and stand-down event. CPWR - The Center for Construction Research and Training conducted analyses on the data collected to assess reach and extent of participation.

Results

In 2014, 4,882 stand-downs were reported. The total number reported in 2015 was 3,759. The number of participants, however, increased from 770,193 in 2014 to 1,041,307 in 2015.

Discussion

The Stand-Down successfully reached the construction industry and beyond. Respondents were enthusiastic and participated nationally and internationally in variety of activities. They also provided significant feedback that will be influential in future campaign planning.

Conclusion

Numbers of Stand-Downs and participants for both years are estimated to be substantially higher than the data recorded from the certificate database. While we cannot determine impact, the reach of the Stand-Down has surpassed expectations.

Practical applications

The data gathered provide support for the continuation of the Stand-Down. Campaign planners incorporated findings into future Stand-Down planning, materials creation, and promotion. This analysis also provides insight on how organizations can partner to create targeted national campaigns that include activities stakeholders in the construction industry respond to, and can be used to replicate our efforts for other safety and health initiatives in construction and other industries.

Section snippets

Problem

According to CPWR – The Center for Construction Research and Training's Construction Chart Book (2013), falls are the leading cause of death and the third leading cause of non-fatal injuries in the construction industry. Numbers fluctuate from year to year, but averaged 360 deaths annually during 1992 and 2010, a total of 6,858 construction workers. The 2014 Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries showed that fall injuries were responsible for 359 construction worker deaths, accounting for about

Data collection

All data were generated from OSHA's certificate of participation database. All information was provided by respondents voluntarily. Every time an individual or company logged in to receive a certificate, they were asked to provide information about their Stand-Down event. All results reported here are based only on self-reported data within six fields requested through the database. Required fields included Name of Business, State, Type of Industry, and Number of Workers who Participated.

Quantitative analysis

The total number of respondents in 2014 (also the total number of stand-downs reported), was 4,882. The total number of respondents in 2015 (and the total number of stand-downs reported) was 3,759. The number of participants, however, increased from 770,193 in 2014 to 1,041,307 in 2015. This means that, on average, each stand-down event in 2015 included a larger number of participants.

Discussion

Many construction stakeholders considered the 2014 Stand-Down successful. It reached not only residential construction, but to the entire industry and beyond, with many government agencies and members of general industry participating. The planners decided to continue the event, and the Stand-Down was repeated in 2015 as a two-week event, with even more participants than 2014. As mentioned earlier, there seemed to be more emphasis on and enthusiasm for participating in a national campaign in

Summary

Construction workers are suffering injuries and fatalities from falls at an alarming rate every year, despite the existence of adequate fall protection and fall prevention measures. OSHA, NIOSH, CPWR, and, other industry stakeholders agree that improving awareness and education is key to decreasing the number of falls. The National Campaign to Prevent Falls in Construction has just entered its fifth year attempting to address this, and the main event of the Campaign, the National Safety

Acknowledgments

This journal article and the research therein were funded by Cooperative Agreement U60-OH009762 from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC/NIOSH). Research was also supported in-kind by the provision of data from the Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA). Its contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of the CDC/NIOSH, the Department of Health and Human Services, or OSHA.

References (6)

C. Branche
Preventing falls in construction: A collaborative effort to launch a national campaign
A Journal of Contemporary Wood Engineering
(2013)
Bureau of Labor Statistics
Census of fatal occupational injuries (CFOI) – Current and revised data: Table A-1. Fatal occupational injuries by industry and event or exposure, all United States, 2014
Bureau of Labor Statistics
Census of fatal occupational injuries (CFOI) – Current and revised data: All charts, 2014

There are more references available in the full text version of this article.

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Jessica Bunting, MPH, has worked in the field of public health for over ten years, specializing in community health, behavior change, and program evaluation. Her focus has been on occupational safety and health for the past five years and she currently works in research to practice (r2p) at the Center for Construction Research and Training (CPWR). The r2p initiative aims to encourage widespread adoption of evidence-based solutions by contractors and workers through improving partnerships between researchers and stakeholders, increasing r2p capacity of intermediary organizations, helping stakeholders influence future research, and developing tools, strategies, and resources to translate and disseminate research findings. As part of her work with CPWR, Jessica has been involved in the National Campaign to Prevent Falls in Construction for several years, and has been conducting data analysis and compiling case studies on the Safety Stand-Down since it began in 2014. In addition to research to practice and fall prevention, her interests lie in safety culture/safety climate, total worker health, and mental health.

Christine M. Branche, Ph.D. is the Principal Associate Director of and the Director of the Office of Construction Safety and Health for the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), within the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Dr. Branche began her career at CDC as an Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS) Officer in the Division of Injury Epidemiology and Control. From 1996 to July 2007, she was the Director of the Division of Unintentional Injury Prevention in the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, and was responsible for managing mission of DUIP. Dr. Branche joined NIOSH in 2007 first serving as the delegated federal official for the White House-appointed Advisory Board on Radiation and Worker Health which advises the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services on guidelines for the likelihood of individual cancers, and on the scientific validity and quality of dose reconstruction activities at NIOSH. During July 2008 through August 2009, she was the Acting Director of NIOSH. Dr. Branche has been the Director of NIOSH's Office of Construction Safety and Health since its inception in December 2009. Dr. Branche has conducted extensive research and program development in injury prevention including drowning, water recreation, fire-related injury prevention, falls among both construction workers and older adults, motor vehicle-related injury prevention, spinal cord injuries, and sports and recreation. She has authored many scientific publications, including many which uncover new problems in injury control. Dr. Branche received her B.A. in biology from the University of Rochester in New York, and her M.S.P.H. and Ph.D. in epidemiology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. During her coursework at UNC, she was a National Science Foundation Fellow. Dr. Branche is a Fellow in the American College of Epidemiology.

Chris Trahan, CIH is the Deputy Director of CPWR—The Center for Construction Research and Training. Chris has a BS in Industrial Hygiene, and 25 years of experience in occupational safety and health. She currently serves as CPWR's Deputy Director. In this role, she co-manages day-to-day operations of the construction research, training, and service programs at CPWR funded by cooperative agreements, grants, and contracts with NIOSH, NIEHS, DOE, and DOL. She is particularly interested in research to practice, training effectiveness, and occupational health research. In her previous jobs, she has enforced OSHA regulations, consulted with clients in heavy and commercial industries, and worked with labor unions in occupational safety and health matters.

Dr. Linda M. Goldenhar is current Director of Research and Evaluation at CPWR: The Center for Construction Research and Evaluation and earlier in her career worked at NIOSH as a research psychologist. She was also an Assistant Dean of Medical Education and research professor at University of Cincinnati College of Medicine. Linda obtained her PhD in Public health and completed a 1 year NIH post-doc. Her scholarly work over the last 30 years encompasses a wide variety of public health related topics and includes over 65 peer-reviewed publications, numerous national and international conference presentations, book chapters, manuals, symposia, and workshops. Her expertise is in safety climate/culture in construction, qualitative and quantitative research methods and intervention evaluation. She is co-lead investigator on a 5 year project entitled Enhancing Safety Climate through Supervisory Leadership.

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A national safety stand-down to reduce construction worker falls

Highlights

Abstract

Introduction

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion

Practical applications

Section snippets

Problem

Data collection

Quantitative analysis

Discussion

Summary

Acknowledgments

Preventing falls in construction: A collaborative effort to launch a national campaign

A Journal of Contemporary Wood Engineering

Census of fatal occupational injuries (CFOI) – Current and revised data: Table A-1. Fatal occupational injuries by industry and event or exposure, all United States, 2014

Census of fatal occupational injuries (CFOI) – Current and revised data: All charts, 2014