Literature Review and Environmental Scan for Better Translation of Research to Practice in Residential Construction

Details

• Personal Author:
  Chapman LJ
• Description:
  The estimated size of the residential construction workforce (8.2 m) and the severity of the injury and disease problem support the need for greater safety efforts. This project's purpose was to review existing data and information and to develop efficient and workable strategies to translate more research to practice in order to improve safety and health among the residential building construction workforce. This review investigated ways to get to the "next step" of getting safer work practices much more widely adopted. METHODS: To identify relevant papers, the reviewer used currently available tools to search both the published literature and the "grey literature" of unpublished manuscripts and reports. Original research articles were reviewed, summarized, and evaluated. Findings of review articles and meta-analyses were also included. Very little research has been done that directly addressed safety research to practice in residential construction, therefore a broader net was cast that captured a larger number of studies that were judged to be relevant. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION: This review failed to locate any articles that described classical research to practice studies such as efforts to diffuse safety innovations across dozens to hundreds of firms in the US residential construction industry. As a result, we investigated related areas. There were a few studies that fit the classical research to practice paradigm and monitored the diffusion of technical innovations but they were unrelated to safety across the residential construction industry (described on page 72 in #5 - What works best to diffuse non-occup. safety innovations and get them adopted in construction?). The seven questions below review research that was judged relevant to improving the translation of research to practice in residential construction. What are the best ways to identify and recruit firms in research to practice intervention studies? The largest problem was figuring out the best way to identify and reach the small firms and sole proprietor firms that are subcontracted to do actual work on projects run by larger firms. A promising resource is Hoover's, a for purchase, online database that contains a list of most US companies including many smaller subcontractor firms and that can be searched by NAICS code, number of employees, sales last year, and geographic location. What helps or hinders adoption of safety innovations in construction and what barriers are often cited? Few studies of safety research to practice barriers were identified. However, barriers to better safety often cited by employers, employees, and other stakeholders in construction or residential construction included: 1) the nature of the work - temporary, exposed to the elements, and where the worksite itself must be built, and 2) the structure of the industry with its wide range of types of tasks and needed skills along with the huge barrier posed by the extensive subcontracting of much of the work, mostly to very small subcontractors and sole proprietor operations. Other barriers included: 3) a lack of awareness of problems and solutions by both controlling firms and employees, and 4) perceived high costs or uncertain costs for adopting safer practices. What works best to diffuse safety innovations to get them adopted in construction? There were more than two dozen studies judged relevant to understanding what works best for diffusing information and determining whether safety innovations get adopted in the construction industry. There was controversy in the review articles about which research studies met basic quality control criteria for intervention evaluation and about which of those studies that met the criteria actually worked to get changes adopted and to reduce injuries. According to one 2012 critical review, most high quality diffusion studies have not worked to reduce injuries except for one large, multi-employer worksite safety campaign coupled with worksite inspections and one drug-free workplace program. What works best to diffuse safety innovations to get them adopted in other industries? There was good evidence from other industries that governmental regulation and enforcement can work to get worksite hazards identified and changes made that reduce injuries. In agriculture, a regulatory approach to tractor rollovers succeeded in reducing injuries. Among small businesses, evidence supported the value of regulation, worksite inspections, and engineering controls. What works best to diffuse non-occupational health innovations and get them adopted in construction? There were theoretical and observational studies about the influence of various factors on the development and diffusion of technical innovations in the residential construction industry and the construction industry overall. Many of these studies appeared relevant to improving the translation of occupational health and safety research to practice and suggested that the development and diffusion of safer innovative products and practices in residential construction could benefit from a more dynamic and more open commercialization processes that encouraged greater involvement and more active roles for all of the actors and stakeholders up and down the commercialization and marketing chain including the end user employee. What can observational studies about construction injuries add? Observational studies provided evidence about the prevalence of workplace hazards, the injuries associated with them, and likely strategic directions for injury prevention and hazard reduction. More widespread adoption of measures through research to practice translations or safety interventions inspired by observational studies appeared to be able to help prevent, for example, residential construction roof fall injuries and nail gun injuries. What can economic analysis of intervention studies add to understanding adoption? Safety interventions were not often subjected to careful economic analysis of both their costs and their benefits. The studies reviewed here argued for paying greater and more specific attention to what costs were incurred, and who experienced the costs of workplace injury and thus, who had a material interest in interventions designed to help prevent and control injuries at work. For small firms and sole proprietor firms engaged in residential construction, the costs of injury typically fell on the employer/firm owner, the employee, and the worker compensation insurer. All these actors, especially the builder in charge of the project, appear to have clear incentives to act if they can be appropriately informed and empowered. RECOMMENDATIONS: The findings of this review suggest there are a number of viable strategies for translating research to practice more widely. First, researchers need to be aware of the trade-offs between "big science" and "little science." Researchers can also benefit by promoting what can become "self-accomplishing" instead of relying on regulatory enforcement or academic research studies. Researchers may benefit by promoting research to practice ideas and projects that both benefit the bottom line and clearly reduce injuries and hazards first and then working back toward ideas that improve safety where the bottom line is neutral or worse. For the foreseeable future, researchers will also need to prioritize the promotion of interventions and innovations through agents like the industry leaders and industry organizations on the national, regional, and local level. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Construction Industry Health Promotion Occupational Health Safety Staff Development
• Keywords:
  Construction Industry Construction Workers Health Promotion Injury Prevention Intervention Effectiveness R2p Regulatory Activities Research To Practice Initiative Training Research
• 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 5 ; Wisconsin
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  1-110
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20057958
• Citation:
  Silver Spring, MD: CPWR-The Center for Construction Research and Training, 2013 Dec; :1-110
• Email:
  ljchapma@wisc.edu
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2014
• 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:
  Literature review and environmental scan for better translation of research to practice in residential construction
• End Date:
  20240831
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:c15a8caa3fb6a9937639058369fae2bf6e0406c40a713dc395ca93030e0ab8fbbeb70e9d767d2c56b7da66c6569f12f7e48ad3b89dea1cf8fe411685f97548c6
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/215160/cdc_215160_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 541.55 KB ]