Making OSHA Inspections More Effective: Alternatives for Improved Inspection Targeting in the Construction Industry

Details

• Journal Article:
  Making OSHA inspections more effective: alternatives for improved inspection targeting in the construction industry
• Personal Author:
  Weil, David
• Description:
  Construction job sites are some of the most dangerous workplaces in the United States. In 2002, there were 1,153 deaths from injuries in construction - more than in any other industry - and 163,700 injuries and illnesses involving days away from work(Bureau of Labor Statistics 2004a, 2004b). Although the rate of reported injuries fell substantially over the past decade, the rate for construction remains well above that for the private sector as a whole. Efforts by the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to improve workplace safety on construction work sites are complicated by features of the construction industry. The construction work site is dynamic by nature: the "manufacturing" process for construction requires the physical transformation of the workplace itself and, therefore, working conditions. Each new phase of a construction project entails different materials, building technologies, work processes, and exposures to external and internal environmental conditions. For example, the risk of falls - one of the major causes of deaths and injuries in construction - alternately increases and declines over the course of a multi-story construction project. On the other hand, in most residential construction, the largest risk from falls occurs during one relatively brief period, during roofing (Nelson and others 1997). As a result, the composition and nature of safety and health risks shift throughout a project. The set of workers at a site also varies as a project progresses. Crews with different skills and abilities operate at each stage of a project. Management by individual contractors changes over time, also, as different subcontractors arrive at and leave a site, making the role of the prime construction manager particularly decisive, because of its continuity throughout a project. As the levels of skill and experience of workers and managers on a site vary over time, and as tasks shift, worker exposures to safety and health risks change. These characteristics of the construction work site create a very different safety and health regulatory problem than in a fixed manufacturing location. Yet the underlying regulatory model applied to construction is the same as that applied to factories, banks, or other fixed facilities: sites are selected, inspections conducted, penalties assessed, and follow-up inspections undertaken to ensure abatement. Given the difficulties of ensuring safety at a construction site, however, OSHA recently has been reviewing how it targets enforcement in construction. This study proposes some alternative methods to improve enforcement by OSHA in the construction industry, with the goal of providing a basis for discussion of future public policy in this area. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Accidental Falls Accidents Construction Industry Facility Regulation And Control Occupational Health Safety Workplace
• Keywords:
  Construction industry; Construction workers; Injuries; Occupational Safety and Health Administration; OSHA; Worker safety; Falls; Regulatory activities
• Source:
  Silver Spring, MD: CPWR - The Center to Protect Workers' Rights, 2004 Jun; :1-46
• Publisher:
  The Center to Protect Workers' Rights
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  NIOSH grant CCU317202
• Genre:
  Guidance
• Place as Subject:
  Maryland ; OSHA Region 3
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  50 pdf pages
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20057978
• Contact Point Address:
  CPWR, Suite 1000, 8484 Georgia Ave., Silver Spring, MD 20910
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2004
• NORA Priority Area:
  Construction
• Performing Organization:
  The Center to Protect Workers' Rights
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:daa34dbf7ace157c0e46bbb745afb81030ad8f3759ab3f455a7bd0a6c089dbbb35b3f7375cb44a4bbcd44e3ae923b6b8b5f7b91fb7048a5b3f4ffa10c27134c3
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/134353/cdc_134353_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 244.44 KB ]