Background Latino residential construction workers experience high rates of occupational fatality and injury. Work safety climate is an especially important consideration for improving the safety of these immigrant workers. This analysis describes work safety climate among Latino residential construction workers, delineates differences in work safety climate by personal and employment characteristics, and determines associations of work safety climate with specific work safety behaviors. Methods Data are from a cross-sectional survey of 119 Latino residential framers, roofers, and general construction workers in western North Carolina; 90 of these participants also provided longitudinal daily diary data for up to 21 days using an Interactive Voice Response (IVR) system. Measures included the Perceived Safety Climate Scale, and daily reports of five individual and five collective safety practices. Results Work safety climate was mixed among workers, with roofers (19.9) having lower levels than framers (24.3) or general construction workers (24.3). Days reported for several individual (glove-related risks, not doing something known to be unsafe) and collective safety practices (attended daily safety meeting, not needing to use damaged equipment, not seeing coworker create an unsafe situation) were positively associated with work safety climate. Conclusions Work safety climate predicts subsequent safety behaviors among Latino residential construction workers, with differences by trade being particularly important. Interventions are needed to improve safety training for employers as well as workers. Further research should expand the number of workers and trades involved in analyses of work safety climate. Am. J. Ind. Med. 55:736-745, 2012.

Safety management in construction is an integral effort and its success requires inputs from all stakeholders across design and construction phases. Effective risk mitigation relies on the concordance of all stakeholders’ risk perceptions. Many researchers have noticed the discordance of risk perceptions among critical stakeholders in safe construction work, however few have provided quantifiable evidence describing them. In an effort to fill this perception gap, this research performs an experiment that investigates stakeholder perceptions of risk in construction. Data analysis confirms the existence of such discordance, and indicates a trend in risk likelihood estimation. With risk perceptions from low to high, the stakeholders are architects, contractors/safety professionals, and engineers. Including prior studies, results also suggest that designers have improved their knowledge in building construction safety, but compared to builders they present more difficultly in reaching a consensus of perception. Findings of this research are intended to be used by risk management and decision makers to reassess stakeholders’ varying judgments when considering injury prevention and hazard assessment.

Future research is needed to substantiate these descriptive results and to delineate factors that are associated with safety behavior and use of PPE. Interventions, based on a lay health educator model, are needed to improve safety in this population. Safety regulations need to be evaluated and their enforcement needs to be improved.

No abstract

No abstract