Completed Research

Prevention Partnerships in r2p

“Prevention Partnerships for Research to Practice” was a study of how to effectively establish and use stakeholder partnerships to bridge the gap between safety and health researchers’ findings and recommendations and what actually happens on construction sites. The focus was on using partnerships to develop sustainable roles for contractors and workers in the promotion and adoption of research findings, development of communication methods and products that address their specific needs, and identification of research gaps. This elevated role for workers and contractors in research to practice (r2p) directly addressed the questions raised in the National Academies’ report, Construction Research at NIOSH: Reviews of Research Programs of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, concerning how best to: 1) “get vital information to the worker ‘in the trench’ or ‘on the steel’;” and 2) “persuade contractors and workers to effectively use the interventions that are developed through research.”

This study offered information and tools that will have broad application in the construction industry, including a longitudinal study of an effective national construction r2p partnership, industry-driven partnership models, tools and resources to promote the formation of partnerships and adoption of research findings, and the establishment of the first national safety and health partnership network in the construction industry. This network created a mechanism for furthering the research community’s and industry’s understanding of how to effectively use safety and health partnerships for translating research to practice, as well as a place to learn and share best practices and strategies. Surveys of workers and contractors and in-depth interviews with partnership members and network participants were used to gather information in support of these efforts, including information on awareness and use of evidence-based interventions, barriers to their use, effective dissemination methods and formats to reach workers and contractors, and partnership challenges, key dissemination relationships and resource needs.