Partnering with construction companies for health and safety research adds value in a shared mission.

Details

• Personal Author:
  Dennerlein J
• Description:
  Statement of the Problem: Completing worker safety, health, and well-being research in the construction industry has many challenges while the need to improve working conditions for construction workers is quite evident. Integrated worksite programs that target the conditions of work have become increasingly popular due to their comprehensive nature and their added value to an organization's mission; however, fitting interventions to the context of the construction industry poses many challenges. Work organization and the hierarchical structure in construction does not follow the traditional manufacturing model; workers on a given worksite are employed by different companies and move from worksite to worksite. On a given worksite, there will be multiple construction companies working side by side employing different trades needed at a given time for the project. These are often overseen by the general contractor and the owner. We have implemented a number of intervention and observational studies within the construction industry examining worker safety, health, and well-being within the complexity of the industry. Two intervention projects were based on a conceptual framework put forth by the Center for Work, Health and Well-being at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. The first project called, All the Right Moves (ARM) was a worksite program that aligned with fundamental worksite programs already in place in the industry - safety inspections, pre-task planning job hazard analysis, and safety week. Based on the lessons learned, we developed a second program based within subcontractors called ARM for Subs. For both programs we partnered with industry stake holders to complete almost all stages of developing, implementing, and evaluating the interventions. Our goal here in this abstract is to define and describe the role of the partnerships in our ARM for Subs research project from intervention development to the program evaluation. Procedures and Analyses. Intervention development and evaluation consists of several phases of research where our partnership with the industry played out in different roles. Before developing the intervention fully, we utilize formative research to understand the organizational structure, current practices, attitudes and beliefs within the organization. We completed key informative interviews with four sub-contracting companies. Once we developed an intervention design, we vet the program with both managers (safety, project execs, and foreman) and workers. For this project we vetted the program with three companies. Then we piloted the program with a single subcontractor to work out the implementation logistics and finalize the design. We are currently evaluating the program with three subcontractors needing a total of 14. For this phase we have teamed up with the Association of Subcontractors of Massachusetts to recruit these 14 subcontractor companies. Data collection during the most of these phases were primarily qualitative, which included research staff process tracking notes collected during intervention activities as well as key informant interviews with company managers and focus groups with workers. We used standard analytic methods for thematic content analysis of qualitative data that are collected in the form of texts. Results. Throughout the formative research phases of the projects our industrial stakeholders described a need for the work we were proposing to do. They shared our need to help create change within their organizations. As a result, they shared how they as an organization currently work, how they create teams and how crews work together. They provided us with organizational structures in order to understand how they work and how they are structured. During the piloting of the intervention with the single subcontracting company our process tracking revealed that the company saw value in what we were doing. "In our collaboration we gained a better understanding of what we do well and what needs improvement." "[the program achieved measured improvement and increased morale." Currently in our recruitment of the 14 companies, we are hearing the interest in partnering with us has come from our previous success in helping companies meet their needs. Practical Implications and Conclusions. The success of many safety and health interventions appreciates when the intervention's goals and objectives match those of the partnering organization so that those receiving the intervention and are engaged in the activities see a value added for their participation. Developing an intervention in partnership with the key stakeholders through collaborative process has benefits for the intervention design in achieving this goal. In addition aligning activities with current work practices also allow for the intervention to adapt to and adopted by the partners. Overall, both parties involved in the research, the academic research staff and the industrial partners simply want to do the right thing to improve the safety, health, and well-being of their workers. This shared value has proven time and again to be key in the success of our research. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Construction Industry Occupational Health Safety
• Keywords:
  Construction industry; Construction workers; Safety practices; Worker safety; Work organization; TWH; Total Worker Health; Partnership
• Publisher:
  American Psychological Association
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Cooperative Agreement
• Genre:
  Abstract or Summary
• Place as Subject:
  Massachusetts ; OSHA Region 1 ; OSHA Region 3 ; Pennsylvania
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  208-209
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20065673
• Citation:
  Work, Stress and Health 2019, November 6-9, 2019, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association, 2019 Nov; :208-209
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2020
• Performing Organization:
  Harvard University, Boston, Massachusetts
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Start Date:
  20070901
• Source Full Name:
  Work, Stress and Health 2019, November 6-9, 2019, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
• End Date:
  20260831
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:c1c840300ce5f63c15abcb35b17c6af0b2087174fdca20e3aee052fd89ad2278793ff92dcb6f9a931a2d5e744bf91a3c3fabc369785a954d1736fdcb43a068c7
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/249505/cdc_249505_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 113.98 KB ]