Construction Trades
This section provides data for tracking trends in fatal and nonfatal
occupational injuries and illnesses among workers in the construction
trade. An estimated 9.6 million persons were employed in the construction
industry in 2001. Most of these workers were aged 25–54 (75.4%),
male (90.3%), and white (90.8%) [BLS 2001].
Over the years, construction has ranked among industries with the highest
rates of both fatal and nonfatal occupational injuries. BLS reported
that the number and rate of fatal occupational injuries in the construction
sector in 2001 were the highest recorded since the inception of CFOI
(1,225 fatal occupational injuries with an incidence rate of 13.3 per
100,000 employed workers) [BLS 2002b]. For the same year, BLS reported
that the construction industry experienced 481,400 nonfatal injuries
and illnesses at a rate of 7.9 per 100 full-time workers in the industry
[BLS 2002a].
Since the early 1990s, NIOSH has supported extensive extramural surveillance
and research on the construction sector of private industry. The Center
to Protect Workers’ Rights (CPWR) is a principal partner of NIOSH
in conducting these activities. Early efforts focused on surveillance
data and surveillance research, including the preparation of the first
of three chart books focusing on construction safety and health issues
[Pollack and Chowdhury 2001].
The underlying data for Figures 4–20 through 4–52 come
from a number of the BLS statistical programs, including the Current
Population Survey (CPS), CFOI, and SOII. The CPS provides data for estimating
the construction trade occupation denominators used for many of the
rate estimates. The CPWR uses CFOI to characterize occupational fatalities
and SOII to characterize nonfatal injuries and illnesses. Twelve construction
trade occupations are the principal focus of this section:
- Brickmasons
- Carpenters
- Drywall installers
- Electricians
- Ironworkers
- Construction laborers
- Operating engineers
- Painters
- Plumbers
- Roofers
- Truck drivers
- Welders and cutters
Among the trades monitored by CPWR, the estimated distribution of employed
construction workers by trade ranged from 0.6% to 13.3% during 1992–2001.
Carpenters made up the largest proportion of construction workers (13.3%),
followed by construction laborers (8.8%) and electricians (5.9%) (Figure
4–20). The construction workforce has been growing older: In 2001,
the average age for construction workers was 38.7 (1.5 years older than
it was in 1992). In addition, the median age increased from 35 to 39 during
this 10-year period. The aging of the construction workforce is reflected
in the distribution of fatal occupational injuries in this group by age
(Figure 4–21). From 1992 to 2001, the largest proportion of fatal
occupational injuries shifted from construction workers aged 25–34
to those aged 35–44. For construction workers aged 25 or 34, the
proportion with fatal injuries declined (from 27.8% to 21.7%), whereas
it increased for workers aged 65 or older (from 3.9% to 5.9%).
Fatal occupational injury rates in the construction trades for 2001 ranged
from 6.0 per 100,000 full-time workers for drywall installers to 75.6
for ironworkers—more than a 12-fold difference (Figure 4–23).
Falls to lower level accounted for the highest number of fatal injuries
among construction workers (410 or 4.3 per 100,000 full-time workers),
and highway accidents accounted for the next highest number (161 or 1.7
per 100,000 full-time workers) (Figure 4–25). This section includes
figures that chart fatal injury rates for each of the 12 construction
trades that form our focus. For each trade, the figure contrasts fatal
occupational injury rates for all construction workers during each year
from 1992 through 2001 (Figures 4–29, 4–31, 4–33, 4–35,
4–37, 4–39, 4–41, 4–43, 4–45, 4–47,
4–49, and 4–51).
Rates of nonfatal injuries and illnesses involving days away from work
in the construction trades in 2001 ranged from 131.2 per 10,000 full-time
workers for painters to 751.8 for ironworkers—nearly a 6-fold difference
(Figure 4–27). Injuries and illnesses associated with ergonomic
events or exposures made up 26.5% (49,237 of 185,662) of all nonfatal
occupational injuries and illnesses involving days away from work in the
construction industry in 2001 [BLS 2003c]. The rate of bending, climbing,
crawling, reaching, twisting injuries in construction was 15 per 10,000
full-time workers—nearly double the rate of 8 for all private industry
that year (Figure 4–28). This section includes figures that chart
nonfatal injury and illness rates for each of the 12 construction trades
that form our focus. For each trade, the figure contrasts nonfatal injury
and illness rates for all construction workers during each year from 1992
through 2001 (Figures 4–30, 4–32, 4–34, 4–36,
4–38, 4–40, 4–42, 4–44, 4–46, 4–48,
4–50, and 4–52).
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