May D, Waddoups J. (2010)

Analyzes construction costs of Ohio elementary school construction (1997-2008) and finds contractors using Responsible Contracting Policies (RCPs) that include health insurance coverage for workers generally have no statistically significant impact on final bid costs. The difference in school construction cost was the school characteristics and location, as urban schools were more costly to build than rural schools.

Bodah M, Phillips P, Belman D. (2007)

This report describes various uses, sample language, and provides a review of research evaluating project labor agreements (PLAs).  These are pre-hire, and often pre-project, collective bargaining agreements between unions and owners or construction managers that establish the terms and conditions of employment on one or more specific construction projects.

They commonly have safety and worker training components.

Once used almost exclusively on very large projects that were either extremely isolated or that overwhelmed the local construction labor market, PLAs are now used on a variety of private and public projects.

The current report is possibly the broadest ranging, and most detailed studies of PLAs conducted to date.  Although they lack good data on safety outcomes, interviews conducted in the study suggests that safety inputs are greater on PLA projects.  Often PLAs include language establishing labor/management committees that deal specifically with safety and health issues.