An English/Spanish Safety Climate Scale for Construction Workers

Details

• Personal Author:
  Gao W ; Gittleman JL ; Jorgensen E ; Nickels L ; Sokas RK
• Description:
  BACKGROUND: Workers in the construction trades experience high rates of traumatic injury. An increasing number of workers in this industry speak only Spanish, including members of construction trade unions. This brief communication reports a dual language safety climate scale developed during a larger training intervention study. METHODS: Construction workers in two unions self-completed a previously validated 6-item safety climate scale modified for the construction trades. A seventh item was developed midway through the study and incorporated into the version completed by half of the respondents. For one union with a sizeable number of Spanish-speaking members, a dual-language (Spanish/English) version was administered. Follow-up telephone interviews conducted 3 months after the self-completed survey also included the safety climate scale. RESULTS: Cronbach's coefficient alpha was 0.85 for the 6-item scale and 0.85 for the 7-item scale. Similar coefficient alpha scores were found for the subgroup of Spanish-speakers on the 6- and 7-item scales. Spanish speakers with low education were less likely to respond to the scale when self-completing but not when it was administered by telephone in Spanish. CONCLUSION: This safety climate scale elicits consistent and reliable response from unionized construction workers when administered in English or in Spanish. Spanish literacy may be a consideration for the use of this scale among foreign-born Hispanic workers. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Construction Industry Construction Materials Epidemiology Occupational Health Safety Staff Development Surveys And Questionnaires
• Keywords:
  Construction Construction-materials Construction-workers Injury-prevention Quantitative-analysis Questionnaires Statistical-analysis Training
• ISSN:
  0271-3586
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Cooperative Agreement
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  Illinois ; Maryland ; OSHA Region 3 ; OSHA Region 5
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  438-442
• Volume:
  50
• Issue:
  6
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20032448
• Citation:
  Am J Ind Med 2007 Jun; 50(6):438-442
• Contact Point Address:
  Rosemary K. Sokas, Division of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, University of Illinois at Chicago School of Public Health, 2121 W. Taylor St., M/C 922, Chicago, IL 60612
• Email:
  SOKAS@uic.edu
• 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:
  American Journal of Industrial Medicine
• End Date:
  20090630
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:37e02903f0102a98ac1015e1fac375ff84aba956b4cee4b35b2052f0e486e4b126d4f6d5e4d60cdf8cd67e152c7151974d6bb4204938a69ea29ad7d8a61a8c1b
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/186406/cdc_186406_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 116.96 KB ]