Thomas Mills

Work safety climate and safety practices among immigrant Latino residential construction workers

BACKGROUND Latino residential construction workers experience high rates of occupational fatality and injury. Work safety climate is an especially important consideration for improving the safety of these immigrant workers. This analysis describes work safety climate among Latino residential construction workers, delineates differences in work safety climate by personal and employment characteristics, and determines associations of work safety climate with specific work safety behaviors. METHODS Data are from a cross-sectional survey of 119 Latino residential framers, roofers, and general construction workers in western North Carolina; 90 of these participants also provided longitudinal daily diary data for up to 21 days using an Interactive Voice Response (IVR) system. Measures included the Perceived Safety Climate Scale, and daily reports of five individual and five collective safety practices. RESULTS Work safety climate was mixed among workers, with roofers (19.9) having lower levels than framers (24.3) or general construction workers (24.3). Days reported for several individual (glove-related risks, not doing something known to be unsafe) and collective safety practices (attended daily safety meeting, not needing to use damaged equipment, not seeing coworker create an unsafe situation) were positively associated with work safety climate. CONCLUSIONS Work safety climate predicts subsequent safety behaviors among Latino residential construction workers, with differences by trade being particularly important. Interventions are needed to improve safety training for employers as well as workers. Further research should expand the number of workers and trades involved in analyses of work safety climate.

Work safety climate, personal protection use, and injuries among Latino residential roofers

BACKGROUND This analysis describes work safety climate, personal protective equipment (PPE) use, and injuries among Latino residential roofers, and examines the associations of work safety climate with PPE use and injuries. METHODS Eighty-nine North Carolina residential roofers completed a baseline interview and daily logs about perceptions and use of PPE, occurrence of injuries in last 12 months, and work safety climate. RESULTS The mean work safety climate score was 26.5 (SD = 5.6). In the baseline interview, participants reported that the majority of employers provided PPE and that they used it most or all of the time; daily log data indicated that PPE was used for half or fewer of hours worked. 39.9% reported any injury in the last 12 months. Work safety climate was significantly correlated with the provision and use of most types of PPE, and was inversely associated with injury. CONCLUSIONS Supervisors promoting safety may increase the PPE use and decrease injuries.

Occupational injury and work organization among immigrant Latino residential construction workers

BACKGROUND Rates of occupational injury among immigrant workers are widely believed to be underestimated. The goal of this study was to enhance understanding of the burden of occupational injury and the work organization factors underlying injury among immigrant Latino residential construction workers. METHODS Prospective data were obtained from a community-based sample of Latino residential construction workers (N = 107) over a 3-month period. RESULTS Twenty-eight participants were injured, resulting in an injury incidence rate of 55.0/100 FTE (95% CI = 41.4-71.6) during the 3-month observation period. The injury rate involving days away from work during the observation period was 3.9/100 FTE (CI = 0.2-7.2). Injuries were elevated among roofers relative to framers and general construction workers. Roofers had elevated exposure to a variety of deleterious work organization factors. CONCLUSIONS Although imprecise given the small sample, our results suggest a threefold to fourfold underestimate of the injury burden to immigrant Latino construction workers. Work organization may contribute to elevated rates of non-fatal occupational injury, particularly among roofers.

Nanoscale welding aerosol sensing based on whispering gallery modes in a cylindrical silica resonator

We report an experimental technique where one uses a standard silica fiber as a cylindrical whispering gallery mode (WGM) resonator to sense airborne nanoscale aerosols produced by electric arc welding. We find that the accumulation of aerosols on the resonator surface induces a measurable red-shift in resonance frequency, and establish an empirical relation that links the magnitude of resonance shift with the amount of aerosol deposition. The WGM quality factors, by contrast, do not decrease significantly, even for samples with a large percentage of surface area covered by aerosols. Our experimental results are discussed and compared with existing literature on WGM-based nanoparticle sensing.

Feasibility of interactive voice response methods in health behavior research with immigrant Latinos.

OBJECTIVES Determine the feasibility of using interactive voice response (IVR) for conducting daily diary research with immigrant Latinos. METHODS Baseline data containing demographic, health, and job-related characteristics were obtained from immigrant Latino construction workers (N=119). Participants also completed an IVR-based daily diary for 21 consecutive days. RESULTS Over one third (37%) of the sample adhered to the 21-day protocol; a comparable percent-age (38.7%) initiated but did not adhere to the protocol; and 24% never began the diary protocol. Adherence was generally not predicted by demographic, health, or job-related characteristics. CONCLUSIONS IVR technology makes diary studies with Latino samples feasible.

The perceived value of green professional credentials to credential holders in the US building design and construction community

The popularity of green construction professional credentials has increased dramatically in recent years in the United States and abroad, due in part to the mainstream development of sustainable construction in the building design and construction community. The aim was to compare the perceived value of three broad-spectrum green building professional credentials currently available in the North American construction market: Green Globes Professional, LEED Green Associate and Green Advantage Certified Practitioner. Perceived professional and personal value derived from holding credentials, including but not limited to impacts on compensation, promotion, education, industry recognition and self-confidence, were evaluated for a sample of credential holders using an online survey instrument. Invitations were successfully delivered to 6670 certified and non-certified design and construction professionals. Of those surveyed, 730 responded to the Qualtrics survey. A one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to detect significant differences between the reported perceptions of different credential holders. The results revealed that Green Globes Professionals and LEED Green Associates agree more strongly than Green Advantage Certified Practitioners that earning their credentials resulted in positive professional and personal impacts. No significant differences between the perceptions of Green Globes Professionals and LEED Green Associates were identified.

International benchmarking for performance improvement in construction safety and health

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to advance knowledge on the advantages of integrating safety earlier in the construction project lifecycle. Design/methodology/approach – A case study approach is used to collect data from construction sites in the USA, which performs poorly in construction safety and health, and Australia (AU), which performs well in construction safety and health. Qualitative data are collected to determine how and when safety is considered in the project lifecycle in both countries, and then the results are benchmarked to determine the benefits of addressing safety earlier in the process. Findings – Data show that addressing a potential hazard earlier in the project lifecycle has performance benefits in terms of the level of hazard control. Research limitations/implications – The processes that are identified as possibly explaining the performance difference are just based on qualitative data from interviews. Targeted research addressing the relationship between these processes an...

Effect of the Last Planner System® on Social Interactions among Project Participants

ABSTRACT Construction is one of the oldest and most established project-based industries, bringing together a diverse collection of professionals for short periods of time. Within the temporary organization of projects, interaction among the participants ensures a smooth transmission of vital information that impacts the process of production planning. While involvement of participants in the planning process increases cohesiveness among them, the Last Planner System® (LPS) identifies detailed specification of the steps to be followed and the constraints to be removed for reliable execution of the project. To accomplish the goal of this study to understand the effect of LPS on the social interactions of the participants, a critical case study method was adopted. In-depth analyses of the interactions among the participants of two projects, one following LPS and another following traditional project planning, have been undertaken to illustrate the role of social interaction in each one of them. Weekly subcontractor coordination meeting was selected as the unit of analysis. Data has been collected using direct observation, and Interaction Process Analysis has been used to analyze the social interaction data. The findings provide a project-level understanding of the role of social interaction among project participants during LPS in comparison to that of traditional project planning. LPS increased the participants’ understanding and control of the work assignments, thereby creating a social system with more information and higher level of trust. Participants using the LPS exhibited more cooperation than those using traditional project planning, working within the social network of the project.

Understanding Information Usage by Residential Construction Supervisors and Bridge/Structure Inspectors As a First Step in Adoption of Field Based IT

This paper explores parallels in field information processes in two different construction sectors and operational domains, 1) field supervision in residential construction and 2) bridge and structure inspections. The work presented in this paper represents the first stage of a multi- stage project that will result in the integration of hand-held IT tools to be used by field personnel for two way field access to corporate IT systems. The first stage of the project looks at up grading current office based web access to corporate IT systems using hand-held tools. The second stage of the project looks at transforming current field processes to take full advantage of the new technologies in operating practices. Information flows and work processes of these two distinct domains were examined through interviews and field studies. Process mapping techniques were used to document field personnel interactions with the corporate IT system as well as data collection and information usage in daily work. Sample process maps are presented in the paper. Analysis of the process maps identified trigger points in project inspection and management, known as “ready,” “set,” and “go” points that become translated into field management tasks as planning, actuating, and reporting. An understanding of these trigger points is used to redesign interactions within the corporate IT system to provide maximum usability for field personnel and is expected to result in a more accurate corporate IT system. An interesting by product of the two research projects in seemingly unconnected sectors of the construction industry is the similarities present between the field information requirements and interactions with the corporate IT system. The paper concludes with parallel strategies for transforming existing field practices using hand- held technologies developed in the projects.