The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation (NIOSH FACE) program investigates selected work-related fatalities, collecting information not captured in other data sources - including safety management and training programs, use of engineering controls and personal protective equipment on the jobsite, and recommendations for preventing similar incidents. Center for Construction Research and Training (CPWR) researchers took all of the 768 fatality cases in construction investigated and reported between 1982 and 2015, and coded the narratives into a searchable database. Working with NIOSH, CPWR recently published two papers describing the database and our analysis of fall fatalities contained therein. They found:
- One in five of the construction worker fatalities described in the reports occurred during the worker's first two months on the job.
- NIOSH recommended safety training in 75% of the reports.
- NIOSH recommended installing protective equipment in 43% of the reports.
- NIOSH recommended performing a job safety/hazard analysis in 40% of the reports.
- 42% of the deaths were attributed to falls, and that more than half the workers who died in falls lacked access to personal fall arrest systems (PFAS)
The construction FACE database - Codifying the NIOSH FACE reports appeared in the September 2017 edition of the Journal of Safety Research, summarized HERE. Fatal falls and PFAS use in the construction industry: Findings from the NIOSH FACE reports appeared in Accident Analysis and Prevention. For a one-page summary of the key findings, CLICK HERE.
The database free for anyone to download. Other researchers are encouraged to do their own analyses and to share what they find with CPWR. The FACE database is available through the CPWR website.
