From the Desk of Chris Trahan Cain, Executive Director | |
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Protecting Construction Workers from Head Injuries | |
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Between 2021 and 2022, almost 450 construction workers suffered a fatal head injury, and another 11,600 had injuries severe enough to force them to miss work. The causes of these injuries take many forms, including being struck by a falling object or moving equipment; falling and hitting one’s head against an object or surface; and coming in contact with overhead hazards, such as equipment or electrical wires. CPWR has developed materials that show how to protect workers from these injuries, including a new version of our guide to selecting head protection, a Hazard Alert Card and a Toolbox Talk, and our just-completed, two-part webinar series on head protection. These free resources are all available in Spanish. Also on our Preventing Head Injuries web page are useful materials from other organizations such as OSHA and NIOSH.
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TOOLS FOR SAFETY AND HEALTH | |
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Resources for Safer Winter Work
This fall’s unusually warm weather makes it easy to forget that winter will arrive soon. Working outside in cold, wet, icy, or snowy conditions can expose construction workers to serious hazards such as hypothermia, frostbite, and falls. CPWR’s website offers material to help keep them safe and healthy during the winter months, including our Toolbox Talk, Hazard Alert and infographics on the topic, as well as valuable information from organizations like NIOSH and OSHA.
Sign Up for NABTU/CPWR Newsletter on Preventing Deaths from Suicide and Opioids
NABTU and CPWR has published two issues of the newsletter we launched this year to help the construction industry prevent suicides and deaths from opioids -- REASON (Resources and Effective programs Addressing Suicides and Opioids Now). Each issue of REASON provides comprehensive solutions, important research, and free resources that highlight these issues and the positive steps being taken to address them. Read the second issue and subscribe now.
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From Summer Internship to Impactful Industry Collaboration: A Case Study on Moving Safety Research to Practice. Zhenyu Zhang. CPWR Small Study, 2024. Read the full report and the Key Finding.
Variations in States’ OSHA Consultation Programs in Construction. Wayne Gray, John Mendeloff. CPWR Small Study, 2024. Read the full report and the Key Finding.
Papers from Four CPWR Staff Members Featured in AJIM
CPWR staff published four articles available ahead of print of a special Issue of the American Journal of Industrial Medicine focused on Construction Safety and Health (available in print in 2025), including articles covering:
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A method to assess bullying and harassment as an upstream determinant of construction worker mental health. Cora Roelofs, Christopher Rodman, Amber Trueblood, Chris T. Cain. Read the Key Finding
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Characterizing Applications, Exposure Risks, and Hazard Communication for Engineered Nanomaterials in Construction. Bruce Lippy, Sara Brooks, Michael Cooper, Leonard Burrelli, Andreas Saldivar, Gavin West. Read the Key Finding
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Pre‐task planning for construction worker safety and health: Implementation and assessment. Babak Memarian, Sara B. Brooks, and Jean Christophe Le. Read the Key Finding
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Suicide among construction workers in the United States, 2021 William Harris, Amber B. Trueblood, Thomas Yohannes, Christopher P. Rodman, Rick Rinehart. Read the Key Finding
Small Study Program Again Accepting Grant Funding Requests
Our Small Study Program advances construction safety and health by providing financial support for promising research and practical initiatives. It prioritizes funding for initiatives that aim to:
- Reach high-risk groups, including small employers (those with 19 or fewer employees), vulnerable workers, and those in residential and light commercial construction.
- Develop interventions that can be immediately applied on the job.
- Engage stakeholders in partnerships that identify and overcome barriers to adopting good practices.
- Tackle persistent or emerging issues with the use of new technologies to enhance worker safety, health, and wellbeing.
- Translate research into practice and ensure widespread dissemination.
- Promote proven safety practices to small employers for immediate impact.
You can propose a study at any time, and it may receive up to $30,000 in funding for a one-year period. For more information, including how to apply, visit the Small Study Program on CPWR’s website.
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Benefits and Challenges of Mentorship in the Construction Industry
Tuesday, November 19 at 2:30 PM ET
Recently completed research by the University of Washington examined the use of mentorships to prolong the careers of women in the trades, as discussed briefly in our previous webinar, Strategies to Recruit and Retain Women in Construction. Based on lessons learned throughout this five-year project, the research team worked with the SMART International Union to publish a Best Practices Guide and a Mentor Handbook that can be used by others interested in cultivating mentor-mentee relationships in the trades for both women and men. During this webinar, attendees will learn more about these new resources and how they can help you develop or improve a mentorship program within your union or construction company, and the role of mentorship in promoting social support, and psychological health, and safety, and well-being.
Moderator: Chris Trahan Cain, CIH, Executive Director, CPWR
Panelists:
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Marissa Baker, PhD, Assistant Professor, Department of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences, School of Public Health, University of Washington
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Lily Monsey, Research Coordinator/MPH Student, Department of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences, School of Public Health, University of Washington
Registration: Click here to register and submit questions in advance
Falls in Construction: What do we know and what can you do?
Thursday, December 5 at 2:00 p.m. ET
(hosted by Occupational Health and Safety magazine)
Falls continue to be a leading source of injuries and deaths among construction workers. In this webinar, CPWR staff members will describe recent data trends with this hazard and resources that address it, such as a revised Guide to Selecting Head Protection and a Leading-Edge Tipsheet.
Presenters:
· William Harris, MS, Research Analyst, Data Center
· Rosa Greenberg, MPH, Research Analyst, Research to Practice Program
Register now for this webinar.
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CPWR Becomes an OSHA Ambassador
After participating as an OSHA Alliance since 2017, CPWR is proud to announce that our Executive Director Chris Trahan Cain and Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health Douglas L. Parker signed a CPWR-OSHA Ambassador Agreement into effect on October 29, 2024. In addition to recognizing years of successful collaboration, this agreement begins a deeper commitment to working with one another to eliminate work-related injuries and illnesses in construction.
New Initiative Aims to Reduce Construction Worker Suicides
In 2022 more than 1,000 construction workers died from on-the-job incidents—and more than five times as many died from suicide. To help bring down the unacceptably high suicide rate, chief executives from across construction, including from major corporations and NABTU President Sean McGarvey, have joined a new CEO council that will guide an industry-wide effort to develop solutions. This effort, which aims to reach 500,000 workers over the next five years, will evaluate current mental health programs, identify gaps in support, and design new initiatives to address the needs of construction workers. The group will support an initiative launched earlier this year by the Bechtel Corporation, which pledged $7 million to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention to develop programs for the construction industry.
NIEHS Report Highlights Economic Impact of Environmental Career Worker Training Program
The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences’ Worker Training Program recently highlighted the economic impact of the Environmental Career Worker Training Program (ECWTP), including CPWR’s program. Our ECWTP trains and readies economically disadvantaged workers for careers in the environmental remediation field and building trades unions. CPWR’s consortium of four communities has extensive experience and an outstanding track record of recruiting, training, and assisting program graduates obtain meaningful, sustainable careers in construction, and become active participants in the economic recovery of their communities.
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