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Abstract #157103

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Vicki Kaskutas, MHS, OTR/L, School of Medicine, Occupational Therapy Program, Washington University, 4444 Forest Park Avenue, St Louis, MO 63108, Hester J. Lipscomb, PhD, Division of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Duke University Medical Center, 2200 W Main, Suite 700, Durham, NC 27710, Ann Marie Dale, OTR/L, Division of General Medical Sciences/ School of Public Health, Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis/ Saint Louis University, Campus Box 8005, 660 S. Euclid, St. Louis, MO 63110, John Gaal, EdD, Carpenters' District Council of Greater St. Louis & Vicinity, 1401 Hampton AVE, St. Louis, MO 63139, Mark Fuchs, BA, St. Louis Carpenters Joint Apprenticeship Program, 8300 Valcour Avenue, St. Louis, MO 63123, and Brad Evanoff, MD, MPH, Division of General Medical Sciences, Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Campus Box 8005, 660 S. Euclid, St. Louis, MO 63110, 314-454-8603, bevanoff@dom.wustl.edu.

We examined associations between reported falls from height in apprentice carpenters and factors intrinsic to the apprentices and extrinsic at the worksite. Apprentice carpenters completed a self-administered questionnaire assessing work experience, knowledge, risk perception, confidence, journeymen carpenter to apprentice ratio at the worksite, work crew behavior, and safety climate. Relationships between odds of falling and these intrinsic and extrinsic factors were examined with backward conditional logistic regression. 1,026 carpenter apprentices completed the survey, with a response rate of 98.8%. Sixteen percent (n=164) of all apprentices had sustained a fall from a height in the past year; the majority of these falls did not result in medical treatment or work absence. Independent predictors of fall from height in the past year included recent residential work experience (OR=3.28, 95%CI=1.29-8.33), scoring below the median on a scale reflecting crew behavior (OR=1.79, 95%CI=1.18-2.70), and a journeyman carpenter to apprentice ratio of less than 2:1 (OR=1.67, 95%CI=0.99-2.86). We did not find significant associations between recent fall history and safety climate or the apprentices' knowledge, risk perceptions, or confidence. These results provide evidence of the importance of extrinsic factors at the worksite in the prevention of falls. Apprentices reporting falls from height reported more unsafe behaviors by crewmembers and working at sites with fewer experienced senior carpenters. Workers in residential construction were more likely to report falls than those in commercial construction. These results suggest that training interventions will not be effective in reducing falls unless accompanied by worksite changes.

Learning Objectives:

• Identify predictors of falls from height in a population of apprentice carpenters.
• Discuss the importance of extrinsic factors at the worksite in the prevention of falls.
• Explore factors which were not associated with falls from heights.

Keywords: Construction Injuries, Occupational Injury and Death

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Any relevant financial relationships? No
Any institutionally-contracted trials related to this submission?

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.

• Audio (mp3) recording
• Slides (pdf) or Handout
• Multimedia recording