Highlights 2009: Endings and Beginnings

Details

• Corporate Authors:
  CPWR--The Center for Construction Research and Training ; CPWR--The Center for Construction Research and Training
• Description:
  "Endings and Beginnings," the title of our 2009 Highlights, is a familiar theme in the construction industry. We all know the flow of a job - how one trade begins work just as another trade is finishing its job. We see the theme reflected in the schedule posted at the jobsite trailer. We see familiar faces when we start a job, knowing that they're wrapping up and will soon depart. Perhaps the theme is best expressed by the ribbon-cutting ceremony: Workers have completed the structure that began as a set of drawings and have connected the systems to power the lights, HV/AC, electronic equipment, phones, plumbing and elevators. But when the ribbon gets cut, the next set of tasks begins - leasing the space and servicing the building and its occupants. That's illustrated by the cover photograph from Las Vegas' CityCenter project, which opened Dec. 16, 2009. CPWR experienced its own endings and beginnings in 2009. CPWR completed its five-year national cooperative grant cycle (2004-2009) with the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) and won a new five-year award (2009-2014). This cooperative agreement between NIOSH and CPWR is the centerpiece of applied research in the U.S. construction industry, which investigates the causes - and prevention - of construction fatalities, injuries and illnesses in our nation. In this Highlights, you'll find a brief description of the research projects coming to a close and those just beginning in 2009. In addition to its research in 2009, CPWR also submitted a proposal to the National Institute for Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) for funding to continue environmental hazards and disaster response training. NIEHS grants will be awarded in 2010. Given the caliber of programs described on Pages 20-25, I anticipate this work will continue for another five years, maintaining CPWR's hazardous waste and safety and health training operations through 2015. In addition to providing expert training to our workforce, CPWR staff offer workshops on emerging topics, such as "green" construction - a subject of growing importance in this new decade. CPWR also assists workers formerly employed at DOE nuclear facilities through its employment verification program, supported by a grant from the Department of Labor. The grant enables CPWR to search records and document workers' DOE employment. Without proof of employment, a worker sickened from exposure to hazardous materials at DOE nuclear sites cannot qualify for compensation for work-related illness. One worker's dilemma was profiled in a TV news program. Read more about this and CPWR's BTMed program beginning on p. 26. One last ending/beginning is critical, because it involves you. Just as the completed building needs someone to staff and run it, so CPWR's research program needs people in the building trades and construction management to start where the researchers left off: putting their findings to use on our jobsites. Millions of our federal tax dollars fund the research that identifies practical steps workers and contractors can take to make worksites safer. Training programs, videos, Hazard Alert cards, technical reports and more are available for free or at low cost on "http://www.cpwr.com. Safety managers and contractors can find supplementary handouts and toolbox talks in our electronic library of safety and health, http://www.elcosh.org. A new online collection of safety and health photos is now available, again at no charge. If you can't find the answers to your questions, contact CPWR. You can be directed to experts or receive the tools you're seeking. Who knows, your question may inspire a researcher to undertake a new Small Study, partnering with you to find answers to the questions that led you to seek help in the first place. Of course, not all questions have easy answers. Why must we continue to lose an average of four workers a day on U.S. construction sites? Why do aging workers and Hispanics die on U.S. worksites with greater frequency than other workers? And why was there no mention of the 12 workers killed in an 18-month building boom on the Las Vegas Strip when CityCenter opened to such fanfare? While I can't answer those questions, I can assure you of this: CPWR will continue working diligently to find the best ways to ensure the health and safety of our workforce. I ask that you do your part, whatever your level of responsibility, to make U.S. worksites the safest, most healthful, and most productive in the world. Meanwhile, we invite you to celebrate CPWR's "Endings and Beginnings" highlighted in these pages. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Accidental Falls Accident Prevention Accidents Accidents, Occupational Communications Media Construction Industry Education Electric Injuries Electricity Mortality Noise Occupational Exposure Occupational Health Race Factors Radiation Radiation Injuries Safety Silicon Dioxide Staff Development Workplace

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• Keywords:
  Accident-potential Accident-prevention Communication-systems Construction Construction-equipment Construction-industry Construction-workers Electrical-hazards Equipment-operators Equipment-reliability Fall-protection Hazards Injury-prevention Job-analysis Ladders Masons Medical-screening Mortality-data Mortality-rates Nuclear-hazards Occupational-hazards Occupational-safety-programs Racial-factors Radiation-injury Road-construction Safety-climate Safety-education Safety-practices Safety-research Silica-dusts Training Traumatic-injuries Work-analysis Work-environment Work-performance Work-practices Worker-health

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• Series:
  CPWR - Center for Construction Research and Training Publications   ; CPWR - Center for Construction Research and Training Publications  
• Publisher:
  CPWR-The Center for Construction Research and Training
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Cooperative Agreement
• Genre:
  Report ; Report
• Place as Subject:
  Maryland ; OSHA Region 3
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) ; National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health ; Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America ; North America
• Pages in Document:
  36 pdf pages
• Contributor:
  Ayers, Mark H.
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20047509
• Citation:
  Silver Spring, MD: CPWR-The Center for Construction Research and Training, 2010 Apr; :1-34
• Contact Point Address:
  Mark H. Ayers, Presedent, CPWR, CPWR-The Center for Construction Research and Training, 8484 Georgia Ave., Suite 1000, Silver Spring, MD 20910
• Email:
  pstafford@cpwr.com
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2010
• NORA Priority Area:
  Construction ; Construction
• Performing Organization:
  CPWR-The Center for Construction Research and Training, Silver Spring, Maryland
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Start Date:
  20040801
• Source Full Name:
  Highlights 2009: CPWR - beginnings & endings
• End Date:
  20090630
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:6e5de9de606ec72359623333a9dbb362c65ff7acb5bd8c88c6f27c62f998a1ee473b15b266023e105f17bbfa6ee75db685b1226c7ac6b2ef76cb4cd412a9fa33
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/213208/cdc_213208_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 1.41 MB ]