Laborers

IN THIS REPORT, we have combined the 612 workers who called themselves laborers with the 232 workers who described themselves only as “construction workers” when they visited the GWU Emergency Department. Interviews with some of these workers who did not specify a trade when they registered in the emergency department confirm that most of them are laborers. Also, there were no obvious differences between the injury profiles of workers who called themselves laborers and those who called themselves general construction workers. The two groups combined (844 cases) were seen more frequently than any other trade, and make up 29% of all the construction injury cases seen at the George Washington University Emergency Department ( Welch, Hunting, and Anderson 2000).

Demographic Characteristics: The age range of laborers was similar to the range of all workers, with two-thirds of injured workers younger than 40. The age range was broad, from 12 to 74 years. Forty-one percent of the injured laborers were black and 36% were Hispanic. This is in contrast to injured construction workers from other trades, where only 29% were black and 12% were Hispanic. Hispanics may be black or white, but are included here in their own group.

Causes of Injury, Diagnoses, and Body Locations (charts 2A – 2E) : The circumstances of injury for laborers differed from those of all other construction workers. For instance, one-quarter of the laborers were treated for an injury that was caused by being struck by or striking against an object. This includes being struck by a falling object. Although the types of objects involved were generally similar whether the worker was a laborer or from another trade, certain objects – such as beams and masonry blocks, bricks, or stone – were involved in a higher proportion of laborers’ injuries. For laborers compared with all other trades, a higher proportion of falls resulted from slips, trips, and falls on the same level and falls from scaffolds.

Some of the rare but serious injuries were more common among laborers. For example, 29 of the 844 laborers (3.4%) were treated for head injuries compared to 29 of the 2092 workers in the other trades (1.4%). Information on hard hat usage was not available, but there is no reason to believe that laborers are less likely than workers in other trades to wear hard hats.

Laborers were more likely to have lower-extremity injuries (foot/ankle and knee/leg/hip).

Hospital admissions (charts 2-F and 2-G): Compared to injured workers in all other trades, a greater proportion of the injured laborers were admitted to the hospital. Among laborers 57% of admissions were the result of falls, compared to 43% among other trades combined. Fifteen of the seventeen construction workers hospitalized after being struck by beams were laborers, indicating that laborers may be at particular risk for this type of injury. Fully half of the hospitalized laborers had fractures, some to more than one part of their body.

Although a rate of injury or hospitalization for laborers cannot be calculated from these data, the patterns here suggest that laborers have more serious injuries than do other construction workers. Other studies of construction injuries show that laborers have more severe injuries (for example, Ore and Stout 1997 and Pollack, Griffin, Ringen, and Weeks 1996).

Recommendations: The pattern of laborer injuries by cause, diagnosis, and injured body part most certainly reflects differences in the tasks performed by laborers versus the tasks of other construction workers. Laborers perform a great deal of the preparation, set-up and cleanup work on construction sites. In the Washington, D.C., area, laborers perform concrete reinforcement work (along with other trades). These aspects of construction expose laborers to machinery, earth moving, materials moving, cluttered work environments, and other situations where falls and struck-by injuries might occur.

Appropriate fall protection should definitely be a priority for laborers, as well as comprehensive scaffold safety programs. Aerial lifts could replace ladders, in some cases, especially on larger job sites. Improved jobsite housekeeping might help to prevent falls resulting from slips and trips. Proper work boots might provide some protection from the ankle and foot injuries seen disproportionately in this trade. Finally, both laborers and other construction trades must develop safe procedures for handling heavy objects such as beams and masonry materials.

Chart 2-A
Chart 2-B

844 injured laborers
Detailed causes of injury

Chart 2-C
Chart 2-D
Chart 2-E

Chart 2-F
844 injured laborers
Causes of injury for 51 laborers admitted to the hospital

Chart 2-G
844 injured laborers
Diagnoses*of 51 laborers admitted to the hospital

*Note: Some of these laborers had more than one diagnosis. Minor diagnoses which were not likely to lead to hospital admission have been omitted from this chart.

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