Does Experiencing an Injury Claim Impact Small Construction Company Leaders’ Participation in a Fall Protection Survey?

Details

• Personal Author:
  Greespan L ; Hurtado D ; Mansfield L ; Olson, Ryan ; Vogt M
• Description:
  Objectives: Workers in small and medium residential construction companies (<=50 employees) have a high risk of fall-related fatality or disability. However, little is known about effective ways to engage with this subsector for research and training. We tested whether insurance-documented fall-related claims during the past 12 months and lower familiarity with equipment motivated companies' representatives to engage with a fall protection survey. Methods: Oregon's largest workers compensation insurer drew a random anonymous sample of small and medium residential construction that did (n = 197) and did not (n = 195) have a recent fall-related claim. Samples were stratified by size, trade, and region. Company representatives were emailed a 34-item questionnaire about equipment familiarity to enter a raffle to win fall-prevention equipment. We coded survey engagement binarily, indicating whether a participant completed at least half of the survey. Familiarity with 10 pieces of equipment was measured with a scale from 0 (never seen it) to 3 (use it frequently) points. Results: The survey was initiated by 88 out of 392 representatives (22.4% response rate). Of those, 63 representatives provided the company identifier which was needed to establish claim status. Survey engagement was higher among representatives from companies with claims compared with those without (57.6 versus 42.4%, P = 0.16). Equipment familiarity was lower among company representatives with lower survey engagement (1.15 versus 1.56, P < 0.05). Conclusions: The survey had a relatively encouraging response rate for a hard-to-reach sector. The large but not statistically significant difference in survey engagement rates suggests that adverse events motivate companies to engage with fall protection research. Low equipment familiarity in the sample substantiates the need to identify effective engagement methods for fall protection practices. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Accidental Falls Accidents Accidents, Occupational Construction Industry Mortality Occupational Health Preventive Medicine Safety Staff Development Surveys And Questionnaires
• Keywords:
  Author Keywords: Accidental Falls Construction Industry Construction Workers Fall Protection Falls Fatalities Injuries Occupational Injuries Preventive Measures Questionnaires Training

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• ISSN:
  2398-7308
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Cooperative Agreement
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  Oregon ; OSHA Region 10
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Volume:
  64
• Issue:
  8
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20060166
• Citation:
  Ann Work Expo Health 2020 Oct; 64(8):897-902
• Contact Point Address:
  David Hurtado, Oregon Health & Science University, Oregon Institute of Occupational Health Sciences, 3181 SW Sam Jackson Park Rd, L606, Portland, OR 97239
• Email:
  hurtadod@ohsu.edu
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2021
• Performing Organization:
  Public Health Services, Portland, Oregon
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Start Date:
  20050701
• Source Full Name:
  Annals of Work Exposures and Health
• End Date:
  20260630
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:02f53d95a71c3b82166716a65889c9990b2d6c9bdd883a4420331b91e923a3951da3be91de0f6e3ec27887ccb5982bca0e467a46564c22332ac4d86f686a7b0e
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/224160/cdc_224160_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 185.42 KB ]