The National Campaign to Prevent Falls in Construction was started in 2012 by OSHA, NIOSH, and CPWR, with the addition of the annual Safety Stand-Down occurring in 2014.  Since that time, thousands of companies have instituted or improved their jobsite fall prevention programs, and millions of workers have paused work during a Stand-Down to learn more about protecting themselves and their coworkers from falls.  But what exactly has made the campaign so successful? How has word spread so that so many companies participate each and every year?  To find out, CPWR worked with the Center on Network Science (CNS) at the University of Colorado Denver to conduct a Social Network Analysis on the network of partners that has been developed through the Falls Campaign.  Social Network Analysis is a process of mapping and measuring the relationships and flows of information between people, groups, and organizations.

To learn more about which groups and organizations are participating in the Campaign, how they are engaging with one another, and what the benefits and challenges have been, check out this Executive Summary.

Via the American Society of Safety Professionals (ASSP) — A key to improving the safety and health of construction workers is ensuring that they are trained to understand and identify the hazards associated with their work so that they can be mitigated or eliminated. Toolbox Talks are one widely used training tool wherein workers participate in 10- to 15-minute instructional sessions on different topics to learn the hazards associated with their work and the steps they can take to prevent incidents from occurring. This method is often a preferable training tool among smaller employers because they require minimal resources to deliver.

A recent study by U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and NIOSH researchers examined the impact of toolbox talks, particularly those that include a narrative element, on the knowledge gain experienced by workers who participated.

For a summary and more information, check out this news article from ASSP.

Over thirty million construction workers are exposed to hazardous noise conditions on a regular basis. In honor of National Protect Your Hearing Month this past August, BigRentz created an infographic that compares common construction noise to everyday sounds to put the risk of loud noise into perspective. It also highlights exposure limits for construction tasks and provides tips for construction workers to prevent hearing loss in the workplace.

Construction Site Noise: How Loud is Too Loud?

Key Findings from the Report include:

• 325 contract workers died as a result of electrical injury in the U.S. from 2012 to 2016.
• 87% of contract workers who died as a result of electrical injury were wage and salary workers, while the remaining 13% were self-employed.
• 64% of the victims were between the ages of 20 and 44, while another 22% were aged 45 to 54 years.
• 68% of contractors who died as a result of exposure to electricity worked in construction and extraction occupations and another 18% worked in installation, maintenance, and repair occupations.  Workers in building and grounds cleaning and repair occupations accounted for 3% of injury victims.

Key takeaways:

• Fatalities due to direct exposure to electricity indicate that work is being performed on or around energized equipment.
• Many fatalities involve self-employed workers or occur outside the traditional workplace, indicating a need for broader electrical safety education and oversight and innovative approaches to electrical safety training.

See Also: NFPA Report: Non-Fatal Electrical Injuries at Work and NFPA Report: Fatal electrical injuries at work

CPWR – The Center for Construction Research and Training has recently developed a new website called the Exposure Control Database. This online tool helps construction health and safety practitioners predict worker exposure to four major hazards including silica, noise, welding fumes, and lead based on a combination of work factors like task, tool, and material. This database will be publicly available to everyone free of charge.

We are currently requesting data for silica and noise exposure in the construction industry to help expand our database and improve its predictive power. If you have sampling measurements you would like to share, or if you plan on conducting sampling in the future, please feel free to use the following forms:

• Silica form
• Noise form

If you have any questions, please contact Sara Brooks at (301) 495-8532 or sbrooks@cpwr.com.

Thank you for helping keep workers safe!