Construction Work: The Hazards, the Workers Most at Risk, and NIOSH's Prevention Work

Construction employs millions of U.S. workers and is among the most dangerous industries; falls are the leading cause of death on the job. The NIOSH Construction Program works to prevent work-related injury, illness, disability and death in the industry by gathering information, doing research, and turning what it learns into products, solutions and services.

The workforce

In 2019, 11.4 million people worked in U.S. construction, 25% more than in 2011. Compared with the U.S. workforce as a whole, they were more likely to be:

Deaths and injuries

• Falls cause more than 36.4% of all construction deaths.
• Hispanic workers: fatal injuries rose about 90% from 2011 to 2019, faster than their employment in the industry grew.
• Small firms: employers with fewer than 20 employees had 75% of fatal falls in 2015–2017, though they account for only 39% of construction payroll jobs.

Who is at greater risk

Hispanic and women workers face higher risk, and Hispanic immigrants more than U.S.-born Hispanic workers. Contributing problems:

• protective equipment that does not come in every size or fit both sexes;
• too little training material in Spanish;
• fewer safety programs in small construction firms.

The page gives two figures for the Hispanic share of the construction workforce — 28.6% in its 2019 statistics and "approximately 33%" when discussing risk — without saying why they differ. Women are put at about 11%.

Mental health, opioids and suicide

Mental health problems, rising opioid use and rising suicide rates are growing challenges in construction. Seasonal work, time away from family, injuries and chronic pain, no paid sick leave and demanding schedules can all harm mental health. Opioids have often been prescribed for pain from work injuries — and construction has some of the highest injury rates in the country — which can lead to substance use disorder and overdose. NIOSH has a three-part video series, Opioids in the Construction Industry.

Prevention

• Safety climate and culture. Making safety part of how a company works lowers injuries, illnesses and deaths; asking workers for their input reveals hazards others miss.
• Prevention through Design (PtD). Designing a job so the hazard is gone is the most reliable way to protect workers; NIOSH publishes a PtD toolkit for construction.
• Health Hazard Evaluations. Free evaluations for employees, unions and employers that find health hazards at a workplace and recommend fixes.
• Fatality reports. NIOSH and state FACE (Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation) reports on construction deaths, with recommendations, are in CDC Stacks.
• Campaigns: the National Campaign to Prevent Falls and the National Stand-Down to Prevent Struck-by Incidents.

NIOSH guidance for construction

• Preventing excavator quick-coupler struck-by deaths and injuries
• Preventing dump-truck injuries and deaths
• Preventing worker deaths from trench cave-ins
• Preventing heat illness and death in outdoor workers
• Respirator selection guide for construction
• Construction toolbox talks; a pamphlet and poster on construction workers' safety and health (in English and Spanish)
• The National Occupational Research Agenda for Construction, which sets priorities among the industry's safety and health needs

CPWR — The Center for Construction Research and Training publishes The Construction Chart Book, data reports and interactive dashboards.

Sources

• National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (CDC), "Construction." https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/construction/about/index.html
• NIOSH topics A–Z: https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/az/index.html
• A stock photograph on the page is not reproduced here.