Dive Brief:
- New research from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) suggests that several behaviors that contribute to higher health risks are more prevalent among construction employees than workers in other industries.
- Previous studies suggested that construction workers who exhibit certain health risk behaviors may be more likely to experience work-related injuries. The NIOSH study explored how common these types of behaviors are among construction workers.
- The study, published recently in the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, found that six health risk behaviors were more common in the construction industry: smoking, smokeless tobacco use, binge drinking, no leisure-time physical activity, not always using a seatbelt and getting less than seven hours of sleep a day.
Dive Insight:
In addition to workers, construction managers had elevated prevalences for several of these behaviors: smoking, smokeless tobacco use, binge drinking, and not always using a seatbelt. Because of their important leadership roles, behavior changes among construction managers could have positive effects on the safety and health culture in the construction industry, the research found.
The survey covered 38 different construction occupations, including laborers, project managers, those in construction trades and contractors. It pointed out that construction is a physically demanding industry, and workers are exposed to a number of risks by the nature of their job. Adding in outside health risks may lead to work-related injuries, previous studies have found.
Due to the high prevalence of some health risk behaviors, the researchers emphasized that construction workers may benefit from targeted interventions and health programs specific to their particular occupation to reduce these behaviors, particularly since they are also potentially exposed to workplace-specific hazards.
Employee assistance programs can benefit construction workers by helping to address some of the stressors on the job, said Stuart Binstock, CEO of the Construction Financial Management Association (CFMA), which runs the Construction Industry Alliance for Suicide Prevention task force. He said he is not surprised that risky health-related behaviors are prevalent in construction workers.
Managers and construction leaders need to focus on creating awareness in their companies about the dangers of these risky behaviors, which can ultimately lead to suicides, Binstock said.
His organization offers a variety of training materials that can improve employee and supervisory awareness of the danger signs that a worker is in distress. These include:
- Appearing sad or depressed most of the time.
- Increased tardiness and absenteeism.
- Decreased productivity.
- Increased conflict among co-workers.
- Extreme mood swings.
- Acting anxious, agitated or reckless.
- Decreased problem-solving ability.
"In our work in suicide prevention, these are some of the factors that have led to construction having the highest incident rate of suicide among all industries," Binstock said. "Risky behaviors such as alcohol, drug abuse and use of prescription opioids are the same behaviors that have led to increased suicides."
