"The construction industry continues to face serious challenges in safety and health despite the declining rates over time and the significant drop in injuries during the current economic downturn. While overall rates of fatal injuries declined in construction, the rate of fatal falls remained high, especially among several occupations including ironworkers, roofers, welders, and construction laborers. Falls, particularly falls to a lower level, were still the leading cause of death, responsible for about one-third of all deaths in construction. Although during the study period the death rates for ironworker and electrical power-line installer declined by 68% and 50%, respectively, they still ranked as the highest risk occupations. Also, death rates were more than double, or at least 50% higher, for construction laborers, truck drivers, welders, and operating engineers compared with construction as a whole. Training and proven interventions should be adopted for these high-risk construction occupations and activities involving the risk of falls. This report documented that the construction workforce is continually aging, which is reflected in the age shift for both fatal and nonfatal injures during the study period. Risk variations were observed among different age groups. Construction workers aged 55 years and older had a higher risk of fatal falls. Given the increasing aging workforce in the construction industry, job redesign for older construction workers should be considered and fall protections for them should be enhanced. Younger workers were more likely to suffer from nonfatal injuries, and the risk of fatal falls was higher for younger workers under 20 years old. Age factor should be definitely taken into account when developing training and intervention programs. Meanwhile, small construction establishments with fewer than 20 employees shared nearly 60% of construction deaths from injuries, which was disproportionally high considering that less than 40% of construction workers were employed in such establishments. Given the large proportion of small establishments in the construction industry and the considerable number of deaths in those establishments, improved safety and health interventions and OSHA enforcement are urgently needed, especially for small construction establishments. This report has several limitations. One of major limitations is the lack of reliable data (i.e., hours worked) to estimate injury rates. Comparing injury and illness rates at the major industry level, rates based on the CPS data were about 10% lower than rates from the SOII, which suggests that self-reported hours worked in the CPS data were overestimated. Since the CPS is conducted via telephone, there is likely some undercounting of migrant and mobile workers and those who rent or lack permanent U.S. addresses, for example, recent immigrants and very low income workers. In addition, some construction workers are misclassified in non-construction industries. For instance, workers from temporary work agencies are classified in "services" under NAICS and SIC. Moreover, most illnesses have a long latency period, such as cancers and asbestos-related diseases. The overwhelming majority of reported illnesses only include cases relatively easy to link with workplace activity such as contact dermatitis or carpal tunnel syndrome. Considering the possible underreporting and underestimation, the numbers presented in this report should be interpreted and used with caution. This report highlights the prominent difference between fatal and nonfatal injury trends in construction, especially for small establishments. While risk factors for fatal and nonfatal injuries are not necessarily the same, the difference might be explained by several factors, including possible underreporting in nonfatal injuries and illnesses. The results from the SOII data are inconsistent with findings from other data sources that show a consistent negative correlation between establishment size and injury rate (McVittie et al. 1997; McVittie 2003; CPWR 2008, chart 33b; Dong et al. 2010). Studies have suggested that lower injury rates in small establishments do not have any explanation other than underreporting in the SOII (Oleinick et al. 1995; Morse et al. 2004). The SOII estimates the number and frequency of occupational injuries and illnesses based on logs kept by private sector employers. The accuracy of the logs depends largely on employers' understanding of which cases are work-related and on the accuracy of recording and reporting. Another factor may be that underreporting is motivated in part by employers' desire to avoid increases in workers' compensation premiums linked to reported injuries (see CPWR 2008, page 32; Leigh et al. 2004). Also, the SOII excludes self-employed workers, which is a significant limitation for counting injuries and illnesses in the construction industry since one-fourth of construction workers are self-employed. It is recommended that the BLS collect nonfatal injury and illness data on self-employed construction workers even if it is for selected years; and validate the completeness of reporting, particularly for small construction establishments. Further research should be conducted to examine underreporting issues, explore the relative risks of fatal and nonfatal injuries, and improve the accuracy of injury and illness data." - NIOSHTIC-2

NIOSHTIC no. 20046389

This research was made possible by a cooperative agreement with the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, NIOSH (grant 1 U60 OH009762-01). The research is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views

of NIOSH.

d000433.pdf