Is the Apparent Decrease in Injury and Illness Rates in Construction the Result of Changes in Reporting

Details

• Personal Author:
  Carre F ; Dong X ; Ringen K ; Welch LS
• Description:
  Injury rates in all industries and in construction in particular have been declining. Inconsistencies in the information suggest some of the apparent decrease may be due to changes in the ways injuries are treated, misclassification of employees, or underreporting. Lost-time injury rates for the largest construction employers declined by as much as 92% between 1988 and 1999. Yet the rate for cases with restricted work activity actually increased from 0.7 to 1.2 per 100 full-time workers between 1990 and 2000, and fatalities among construction workers remain high. In Massachusetts, at least 14% of construction employers misclassified workers as independent contractors, with the effect that injuries to these workers are not recordable. Studies that compare OSHA logs with other data sources find that the OSHA logs do not include a significant proportion of injuries and illnesses identified elsewhere. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Construction Industry Construction Materials Epidemiology Occupational Health Safety
• Keywords:
  Construction Construction-materials Construction-workers Injuries Injury-prevention Statistical-analysis Surveillance-programs Tools
• ISSN:
  1077-3525
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Cooperative Agreement
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• 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:
  39-45
• Volume:
  13
• Issue:
  1
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20031828
• Citation:
  Int J Occup Environ Health 2007 Jan-Mar; 13(1):39-45
• Contact Point Address:
  Laura S. Welch, MD, Center to Protect Workers' Rights, 8484 Georgia Avenue, Suite 1000, Silver Spring, MD 20910
• Email:
  lwelch@cpwr.com
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2007
• NORA Priority Area:
  Construction
• Performing Organization:
  CPWR-The Center for Construction Research and Training, Silver Spring, Maryland
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Start Date:
  20040801
• Source Full Name:
  International Journal of Occupational and Environmental Health
• End Date:
  20090630
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:380c91831b0bab8c0c912c282ec62652406ba0d2c657415d060d7ee30516f286c837537fd434d313279013beab35d017ed462216cab9c8f3c9109d84f64c3ef6
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/185972/cdc_185972_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 1.18 MB ]