INTERVENTION RESEARCH IN OCCUPATIONAL-SAFETY AND HEALTH - EXAMPLES FROM CONSTRUCTION

Construction is one of the largest industries in the United States, wi th 13% of the gross national product and 5-6% of the labor force. IT i s also one of the most dangerous industries! ies, accounting for 15% o f occupational fatalities and 17% of all workers' compensation costs. In 1989, the Building and Construction Trades Department, AFL-CIO, com pleted an agreement with the National Institute for Occupational Safet y and Health to develop a national labor-management initiative to impr ove occupational safety mid health throughout the construction industr y. The aim was to remedy a lack of research oil construction occupatio nal safety and health. The first years were spent on surveillance to c haracterize construction safety and health problems, development of aw areness about safety and health issues among decision makers in the in dustry, and so,ne limited interventions, A second phase was initiated in 1994, which focuses oil intervention activities. Results from this joint program include a growth in annual federal construction safety a nd health research expenditure from $300,000 in 1989 to $12 million in 1995, a research network that now encompasses more than 30 institutio ns, a national conference that established an agenda to change constru ction safety and health, four regional conferences to develop coalitio ns and implementation strategies, and the development of a feasible go al to reduce fatality and injury rates by 80%. The program may already be having an impact. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, los t-time injury rates for construction for the three most recent rears o f reporting declined by 20%. (C) 1996 Wiley-Liss, Inc.