From the Desk of Chris Trahan Cain, Executive Director | | | Trainers and Trainees Report Construction Noise and Hearing Loss Prevention Training Program Highly Effective | | |
Job-related hearing loss affects half of all construction workers. To raise awareness of this preventable occupational disease, CPWR worked with a range of industry people to develop the free Construction Noise & Hearing Loss Prevention Training program, which includes modules and exercises that can be used on their own or as part of OSHA training programs. The Noise Training Program covers the impact of loud work, the risk for hearing loss, sources of noise, how to measure noise levels and control exposures, and how to use hearing protection. In CPWR’s recent evaluation of the program, nearly 95% of the trainers rated it good or excellent, and with several saying we should promote it more. Workers who received the training had even more positive responses: 98.5% of those who took the training judged it good or excellent. Learn more about the training and the evaluation, and sign up below for this month’s webinar on the impact of hearing loss.
| | TOOLS FOR SAFETY AND HEALTH | | |
Construction Chart Book 7th Edition Now Available
Since its release last month, people across the industry have downloaded the 7th edition of the Construction Chart Book-The U.S. Construction Industry and Its Workers more than 500 times. The Chart Book provides comprehensive data on economic, demographic, employment/income, education/training, and safety and health issues. It offers both the full edition as a downloadable PDF and a series of 39 Interactive Dashboards featuring key findings that change based on user selections. To keep the information current, the dashboards will be updated when new data becomes available. Reach out to [email protected] with questions, suggestions, and your stories about how the Chart Book has helped you improve worker safety and health.
Latest Data Bulletin Examines Construction Workers’ Medical Expenditures
The October issue of CPWR’s Data Bulletin examined medical expenditures among construction workers by demographics, worker characteristics, insurance status, health status, and usual source of care. This issue showed, as does a new interactive Data Dashboard, that construction workers who were 65 or older, white, non-Hispanic, and female had on average higher annual expenditure than all construction workers.
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Passive Back Support Exoskeletons Do Not Effectively Reduce Physical Demands During Simulated Floor Tiling. Ahmad Raza Usmani, Mohammad Sadra Rajabi, Aanuoluwapo
Ojelade, Sunwook Kim, Carisa Harris-Adamson, Alan Barr, Maury A. Nussbaum. Applied Ergonomics, 2025. Read the abstract and the Key Finding.
Understanding the Drivers of and Barriers to Adopting Passive Back- and Arm-support Exoskeletons in Construction. Mohamad Behjati Ashtiani, Wallace Morris, Aanuoluwapo Ojelade, Sunwook Kim, Feyisayo Akinwande, Alan Barr, Carisa Harris-Adamson, Abiola Akanmu, Maury A. Nussbaum. International Journal of Industrial Ergonomics, 2025. Read the abstract and the Key Finding.
Participate in CPWR Heat Safety Research
The multiple efforts to develop standards to address occupational heat stress emphasize that hazard’s impact on construction workers, which include increased risk of traumatic injuries like falls, decreased physical work capacity, and life-threatening illness in the form of heatstroke. CPWR has begun a study to better understand the impacts of heat stress and to develop effective strategies for managing it. We are looking for contractors to participate in this study -- learn more from this flyer.
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November 13 at 1:00 p.m. ET (1 hour)
Construction Noise & Hearing Loss Prevention Research & Resources
Half of all construction workers experience job-related hearing problems. According to the new edition of CPWR’s Construction Chart Book, construction workers were 1.7 times more likely to report poor hearing than those not in the industry. Despite decades of awareness, noise-induced hearing loss remains a serious and under-addressed issue. New research from CPWR’s Building Trades National Medical Screening (BTMed) program, based on health screenings of over 20,000 construction workers, reveals a troubling connection: hearing loss is not only widespread in our industry, but it’s also linked to increased risks of mortality and dementia. Join us for a webinar that explores these findings and describes CPWR’s free training and prevention resources to protect workers from jobsite-related hearing loss.
Moderator:
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Chris Trahan Cain, CIH, Executive Director, CPWR
Panelists:
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Rick Rinehart, ScD, Deputy Director, CPWR, and Principal Investigator, Building Trades Medical Screening Program (BTMed)
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John Dement, PhD, CIH, Professor Emeritus, Division of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Duke University Medical Center, and Industrial Hygienist and Epidemiologist, BTMed
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Marianne Cloeren, MD, MPH, Associate Professor, University of Maryland School of Medicine, and Medical Director, BTMed
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Jessica Bunting, MPH, Research to Practice Director, CPWR
Click here to register and submit questions in advance.
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