SAFETY AND HEALTH IN THE CONSTRUCTION-INDUSTRY

Workers in the building, renovation, and demolition of roads and comme rcial structures in the U.S. suffer a disproportionate share of occupa tional fatalities and lost-time injuries. Nearly all of the injuries a nd deaths are preventable. The fatality rate from work-related ailment s, such as cancers and silicosis, is believed to be excessive, but is not generally computed. The safety and health problems are tied largel y to the construction industry's organization and how the work is perf ormed. Many hazardous exposures result from inadequacies in access to information, measurement technology, and personal protective equipment . Potential solutions are in labor-management site safety and health p lanning and management, education and training of workers and supervis ors, new technologies, federal regulation, workers' compensation law, medical monitoring, and occupational health delivery. Public health op portunities involve health care delivery systems, improved preventive medicine, disability determination and rehabilitation programs, and re search, beginning with the standardization of data to monitor these pr oblems.