• Emily H Sparer, Cassandra A Okechukwu, Justin Manjourides, Robert F Herrick, Jeffrey N Katz, and Jack T Dennerlein.
• Department Environmental Health, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
• Am. J. Ind. Med. 2015 Sep 1; 58 (9): 964-73.

BackgroundConstruction workers move frequently from jobsite to jobsite, yet little is documented about length of stay on-site and associations with worker characteristics.MethodUsing cross-sectional data, we investigated associations between worker characteristics (including trade and musculoskeletal pain) and length of stay on-site (dichotomized as < 1 month, n = 554, and ≥ 1 month, n = 435).ResultsApproximately, 56% of workers remained on the worksite for at least 1 month. Length of stay was significantly associated with workers' race/ethnicity, union status, title, trade, and musculoskeletal pain (P-values < 0.05). Trades associated with longer length of stay included pipefitters and plumbers. Trades associated with shorter length of stay included operators and piledrivers. Workers with single-location pain had 2.21 times (95%CI: 1.52, 3.19) the odds of being short-term versus long-term, adjusting for trade, title, and race/ethnicity.ConclusionThe length of stay and associated characteristics provide important insight into how workers come and go on construction sites and the methodological challenges associated with traditional intervention evaluations.© 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

27 keywords...

hide…