Construction working conditions in Texas: survey instrument development and pilot project

Details

• Corporate Authors:
  Workers Defense Project
• Description:
  Workers Defense Project undertook a pilot study beginning in March 2012 with the support of the CPWR Small Studies grant program. The study, "Construction Working Conditions in Texas: Survey Instrument Development and Pilot Project," sought to conduct a pilot study of the construction industry in Austin prior to launching a statewide study. WDP completed the final aspects of the pilot project in August 2012, and used findings to improve the statewide study survey instrument, determine interview questions, and fine-tune overall study methodology. The report for the statewide study was published January 29, 2013. Results of the study, titled Build a Better Texas: Construction Working Conditions in the Lone Star State, showed that numerous employment violations occur regularly on Texas construction sites. One in five workers statewide has experienced wage theft; one in five has been seriously injured while working; and 41% of the workforce is estimated to be misclassified as independent contractors or paid in cash with no taxes deducted. Nearly every construction site surveyors visited had multiple safety violations, as documented on the Site Observation Checklists that they completed at each worksite. Further, interviews with industry leaders revealed that the poor working conditions experienced by workers also negatively impact honest businesses, which are unable to compete in the current environment of lax enforcement of employment laws. The study also provides best practice recommendations for industry leaders and policy recommendations to improve working conditions and reward honest business practices. WDP was able to use the same dataset to generate a second report, Build a Better Nation: A Case for Comprehensive Immigration Reform, which will be released February 13, 2013. This report examines working conditions through the lens of immigration, as 50% of the Texas construction workforce was found to be undocumented. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Construction Industry Law Enforcement Occupational Health Race Factors Safety Surveys And Questionnaires Workplace
• Keywords:
  Analytical-instruments Analytical-processes Construction Construction-industry Construction-workers Health-standards Health-surveys Injuries Law-enforcement Questionnaires Racial-factors Regulations Safety-research Standards Work-analysis Work-environment Work-operations Work-practices Worker-health Workers Workplace-monitoring

  More +
• Publisher:
  CPWR-The Center for Construction Research and Training
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Cooperative Agreement
• Genre:
  Report
• Place as Subject:
  Maryland ; OSHA Region 3 ; OSHA Region 6 ; Texas
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  1-3
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20046761
• Citation:
  Silver Spring, MD: CPWR-The Center for Construction Research and Training, 2013 May; :1-3
• Email:
  info@workersdefense.org
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2013
• NORA Priority Area:
  Construction
• Performing Organization:
  CPWR - The Center for Construction Research and Training, Silver Spring, Maryland
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Start Date:
  20090901
• Source Full Name:
  Construction working conditions in Texas: survey instrument development and pilot project
• End Date:
  20240831
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:0d06937dd541566a2880ff41f49f5215706a2c754f534db6ee76e8d2f3e3d7ddb25079983d55a805104255b0d24d0d24ca01374ca0383d1423f8fbf8d048a6a9
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/202091/cdc_202091_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 151.21 KB ]