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James Platner, PhD, CIH
CPWR
Ph: 301-578-8500 ext.8501
Email: jplatner@cpwr.com
Year One:
Construction Solutions, CPWR’s free, web-based resource designed to help construction owners, contractors and workers identify job-related hazards and evaluate interventions, expanded its
inventory of information and began offering users a new tool: a return-on-investment calculator.
The CPWR Construction Solutions link to the ROI Calculator, www.safecalc.org, enables contractors to evaluate the financial impact of safety interventions – new equipment, materials or
work practices – on their bottom line. The ROI project began in 2004 under the direction of
CPWR Medical Director Laura Welch, MD, working with economics professor Supriya Lahiri, PhD, of the Lowell Center for Sustainable Production and Center for Women and Work, both of the University of Massachusetts Lowell. During 2010, consultant Sharon Garber, PhD, conducted usability testing, with assistance from CPWR staff Chris Le and Eileen Betit. CPWR reached out to employer associations, contractors, labor representatives, and safety and health
professionals to test the site to assure this tool is user-friendly to a wide audience.
To increase user understanding and promote the implementation of safety and health interventions, the ROI calculator includes several specific examples to show the financial impact of using selected solutions that make the business case for an intervention:
- Lightweight CMUs vs. Heavyweight CMUs
- Sequential Nail Gun vs. Contract Trip Trigger Nail Gun
- Aerial Work Platform vs. Mobile Tower
- Welding Helmet with Auto-Darkening Lens vs. Welding Helmet with Passive Lens
The Construction Solutions site, launched February 2008, is becoming a popular destination. The site includes information on safety and health hazards facing construction workers and provides practical solutions to reduce, control or eliminate those hazards. The information is broken
down by work activity, task and related hazards, and includes specifics on the safety and health risk, a description of how the proposed solution(s) will address the risk, other potential benefits to contractors and workers, and where to purchase or how to implement the solutions. All of the solutions in the Construction Solutions database have been authored by a safety and health professional and peer-reviewed.
Initially, the site focused on interventions for musculoskeletal diseases. Since then, the site has expanded to include methods for controlling exposures to silica and other construction dust, chemicals, epoxies, and noise. The database currently contains roughly 100 solutions, with an additional 46 in the development and review phases. Use of the site has been growing steadily. For the 12-month period ending Aug. 31, 2010, the average number of unique visitors to the site per month was
8,241, a gain of roughly 9 percent compared to the same period in 2009.
During 2011, the CPWR development team will continue to expand the number of hazards and solutions available through Construction Solutions and to develop return-on-investment examples that correspond with these evidence-based interventions. Both of these web-based tools will also be used to support many of the research-to-practice (r2p) initiatives underway, including the Masonry Industry r2p Partnership, which will identify, evaluate, and increase the use of interventions by masonry contractors and workers.
Visit our sites www.cpwrConstructionSolutions.org and www.safecalc.org.
Partners: Jeff Nelson, Conceptual Arts, Inc.; Daniel Anton, PhD, Eastern Washington University; Bruce Lippy and Michael Cooper, The Lippy Group, Inc.; Mark Fullen and Paul
Becker, West Virginia University; Sharon Garber, PhD, consultant. Numerous contractors, safety and health professionals, employer associations, and trainers from all building trades.
Abstract:
Dissemination of Practical Construction Workplace Solutions. ConstructionSolutions is a web-accessible database of hazard and control options organized by construction activity and task. Knowledge of the hazard alone is necessary but insufficient to drive implementation on the work site. A significant barrier to employer decision making remains the contractors' inability to identify specific appropriate control options, where to buy them, and relative costs or return on investment. Initially, Construction Solutions has focused on musculoskeletal disease solutions; which we will continue while expanding fall prevention and industrial hygiene controls for dust/silica and welding fumes.
While ConstructionSolutions is still in development, it receives in excess of 4,000 hits per month and has an average view time of nearly five minutes. CPWR hopes to expand this usage by restructuring a partner web site, the Electronic Library of Construction Occupational Safety and Health (eLCOSH.org) and linking documents which may be able to facilitate implementation of interventions to the Construction Solutions database.
The return on investment (ROI) or cost and changes in productivity associated with some control options are noted as an important barrier to adoption of injury prevention interventions. A publicly accessible ROI calculator appropriate for construction, developed in 2009, will be field tested and evaluated.
User characteristics, intended use, downloads, links and page traffic will allow CPWR to continuously improve the ConstructionSolutions database and better understand patterns of usage. WebTrends and Omniture tracking software will be combined with user surveys to guide improvement and track dissemination. The effectiveness of link formats and search phrases will also be evaluated.
http://www.cpwrconstructionsolutions.org/
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