Building a Sustainable Construction Workforce

Details

• Personal Author:
  Cain C ; Dong, Xiuwen S. ; Sokas R
• Description:
  Background: The average construction worker is now aged 42.5 years and plans to work to age 64.5. Delayed retirement is largely driven by a decline in defined pension benefits, but construction workers face considerable challenges remaining on the job. They experience worse self-rated health and functional capacity, often the result of workplace exposures, when compared with other workers, and the construction industry continues to present safety, biomechanical, noise and respiratory hazards. Union membership provides some protection from adverse outcomes. Objectives: To explore trade-specific age trends within construction occupations and the experiences of building trade unions with aging membership, and to identify the responses unions have developed and implemented. Methods: This mixed-methods study used the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Current Population Survey to explore available trade-specific age information and qualitative results from key informant interviews of 17 union experts, including research, occupational safety and health, or training directors for North America Building Trades Unions, to identify union experiences and interventions. Results include the age distribution of selected construction occupations; reports of age discrimination and union contract language to combat it; contract language to limit lifting requirements; information about career pathways for training and safety, with their attendant limitations; the loss of previously available light tasks with current just in time practices; and the potential opportunities for site management and the training that would be required. Primary prevention of workplace injury and illness through reduction in ergonomic and noise hazards and the need to prevent workplace injuries from resulting in long term disability speak to the need for better enforcement and for workers compensation reform, respectively. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Aging Construction Industry Ergonomics Occupational Health Safety Staff Development
• Keywords:
  Age Groups Author Keywords: Aging Construction Industry Construction Workers Injuries Injury Prevention Lifting Training Union
• Publisher:
  American Public Health Association
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Cooperative Agreement
• Genre:
  Abstract or Summary
• Place as Subject:
  California ; District of Columbia ; Maryland ; OSHA Region 3 ; OSHA Region 9
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20062929
• Citation:
  Creating the Healthiest Nation: Health Equity Now. APHA 146th Annual Meeting and Exposition, November 10-14, 2018, San Diego, California. Washington, DC: American Public Health Association, 2018 Nov; :412292
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2019
• 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:
  Creating the Healthiest Nation: Health Equity Now. APHA 146th Annual Meeting and Exposition, November 10-14, 2018, San Diego, California
• End Date:
  20240831
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:ce9bfb391dfed2afb561f942f4cca7e7ec618b8dfb5b0d8ad3af442992de492e8c5f2270b551dc979876d8525f378320466ac7685b68bdb279652af0473a7690
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/226094/cdc_226094_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 837.45 KB ]