Fourth edition.

"The Construction Chart Book, now in its fourth edition, marks the 10th year since it was first published in 1997. This fourth edition uses updated statistics to characterize the changing construction industry and its workers in the United States, monitor the impact of such changes on worker safety and health, and identify priorities for safety and health interventions in the future. While addressing a broad audience, this book focuses on aspects of the construction industry that are most important to the decision makers responsible for worker safety and health. The data used are from a wide variety of available sources, most of which are large national datasets collected by government agencies, such as the U.S. Census Bureau and the Bureau of Labor Statistics. For the fourth edition, several newly released datasets are added to the analyses, including the American Community Survey, American Time Use Survey, and others. Data from NIOSH's Survey of Respirator Use and Practices are used for the first time in this edition. Data sources used for each page are briefly discussed; relevant publications and websites are carefully selected and cited throughout this book. Detailed footnotes accompanying the text and charts should enhance the information provided. Most of the tabulations have been conducted by the CPWR Data Center staff specifically for this book. Thus, some numbers may not be comparable to other publications using similar data sources due to different quantitative methods. Most of the employment and demographic data compiled for this edition are updated to 2005 to match the latest available injury and illness data. The exceptions are the industry data from the Economic Census, which are collected every five years: the most recent year is 2002. Because the data represent the industry as it was several years ago, recent circumstances such as the housing/mortgage crisis and the consequential decline in residential construction are not covered. This fourth edition, composed of about 180 charts and tables, is presented in five sections with text and charts displayed side by side for each topic. The Industry Summary section profiles the features of construction establishments and their owners, the value of construction work, and the impact of the changes in the industrial coding systems from the SIC to NAICS on construction statistics. The section on Labor Force Characteristics highlights the restructured demographics of the construction workforce and addresses topics such as union membership, the aging workforce, skills shortages, immigration, and the rapid increase of Hispanic workers in the construction industry. The Employment and Income section graphs the trends in construction employment, work hours, earnings and benefits (such as health insurance coverage and retirement plans), alternative employment (such as self-employment, contingent workers, and day laborers), worker misclassification, overtime, and so on. This section is followed by Education and Training, which depicts educational attainment, apprenticeships, and future projections in the construction industry. The last section, Safety and Health, is greatly enhanced and expanded from previous editions. While this section continues to provide detailed construction injury statistics, additional calculations on health risk factors and chronic illnesses are included . This section also compiles the recent findings from research conducted by CPWR staff, CPWR consortium members, NIOSH researchers, and other published studies. Newly developed information includes results from the NIOSH lead surveillance program (ABLES), the latest reports on noise-induced hearing loss, respirator use, worker exposure to manganese and chromium during welding, and OSHA enforcement efforts, just to name a few. For the first time, this section presents an estimation of the total costs of construction fatal and nonfatal injuries. Despite the attempt to serve as a comprehensive resource and reference tool for our broad audience, the results are limited by data availability, space, and other constraints. Limitations of this collection, suggestions for further research, as well as policy implications that could improve the existing data systems, are also included in this edition." - NIOSTIC-2

NIOSH no. 20040016

This publication was made possible by grant number OH008307 from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH). The contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of NIOSH.