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CPWR — The Center for Construction Research and Training was founded as a nonprofit organization in August 1979 by the Building and Construction Trades Department, which consists of the 15 construction unions in the AFL-CIO. The intent was for CPWR to conduct research on economic and other issues of interest to the Building Trades leadership. |
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In 1990, CPWR
began a series of cooperative agreements with the National Institute
for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), part of the CDC. The
agreements, based on a competitive application process, have focused
on occupational safety and health in construction, with an eye to
building a “safety culture” industrywide – safe
and healthful working conditions along with lowered costs and improved
industry productivity.
The effort is essential because of the excessive level of work-related
injuries and deaths in construction, compared with other industries
in the United States and with construction in some other industrial
nations. Because of high employment levels and high injury and death
rates, more workers are killed by occupational injuries in construction
– more than 1,150 in 2003, about 21% of all workplace deaths
– than in any other industry in the United States. The levels
of lung diseases and cancers from exposures to silica, asbestos,
solvents, and other toxics are believed to be high, too, but have
been difficult to document because of the time lag from exposure
to the appearance of symptoms.
The Research Consortium
From the beginning, to help address the issues and find solutions,
CPWR has led a consortium of experts at universities, government
agencies, unions, and corporations (project owners, contractors,
and insurers). Collaborating organizations include Bovis Lend Lease,
the Building Trades Labor-Management Organization of Washington
State, Colorado State University,
Duke University Medical Center, Harvard School of Public Health,
Liberty Mutual Insurance Company, NEA - The Association of Union
Constructors, the University of Oregon, and Washington University
in St. Louis.
From Observation to Implementation and Training
In the first years, the research consisted of statistical analyses
combined with observations in the field and interviews with stakeholders.
CPWR and its partners sought to identify the most pressing hazards
and outcomes, in the form of illnesses, injuries, deaths, and related
costs. Costs include the financial burden on contractors and workers.
But costs also include personal stresses connected to demands of
the work, such as the industry’s typical on-and-off employment.
Then there are burdens on injured or ill workers’ families
and the larger society, which provides support through workers’
compensation and social programs.
All along, CPWR has worked closely with its Construction Economics
Research Network, consisting of more than 20 labor and health economists
and social scientists. Valuable input has been received also from
labor-management organizations and researchers in other industrial
nations who, in 1990, had done more to address work-related musculoskeletal
disorders and some other problems than had been done in North America.
As the issues have been better defined, the emphasis has shifted
from observing trends to application: defining best practices and
helping to implement them. Consortium participants have been working
closely with construction contractors and workers to develop practical
solutions for concerns ranging from noise to silica in masonry,
the hazards of nail guns, and falls from steel decking. Proposed
new approaches are continually field tested. Findings are presented
at conferences, in union meetings, in publications such as technical
reports and pocket cards for workers and contractors, and on the
Internet. As an outgrowth of the statistical effort, CPWR produced The Construction Chart Book, the only
such document focusing on the industry, which details the industry
in terms of economics and safety and health. Where applicable, the
knowledge gained is incorporated into training materials –
in English and Spanish – that are disseminated through more
than 3,500 safety trainers affiliated with the Building Trades unions.
To ensure the effectiveness of the approaches, CPWR and outside
experts are formally evaluating training and other programs.
The years since 1990 might be summarized this way:
1990-94: Define the problem and set a research agenda
1995-99: Define best practices for the industry
2000-2004: Practical research and dissemination of findings
2005-2009: Intensify targeted research and dissemination |
