SPL29 PREVENTION THROUGH DESIGN (PTD) AND RESEARCH TO PRACTICE TO RESEARCH (RTPTR) IN THE AGING U.S. CONSTRUCTION WORKFORCE: BRIDGING THE GAP BETWEEN ACADEMIA AND PRACTITIONERS
Authors: Choi Sang Daniel , Borchardt James G 
Published: July 2024

The U.S. construction has a workforce that is consistent with its aging general population and is ranked among the most dangerous occupations. According to the 2023 U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the median age of construction workers was 41.9; about 42% were older than age 45 and about 20% were older than age 55. Older workers make a substantial contribution to construction with their skills, expertise, and experiences. However, the aging effect presents challenges to reducing injuries, illnesses, and fatalities. Safety, health and ergonomic issues of older construction workers are restricted to age-impaired activities and specific injury/illness types. Proactive preventative health & safety interventions should be undertaken to support older construction workers.

Prevention through Design (PtD) has become increasingly prevalent in the U.S. construction industry. The acceptance of PtD has largely been due to the removal or reduction of risks during the design development and execution phases of construction projects. PtD is the concept of applying methods to minimize occupational hazards early in the design process, with an emphasis on optimizing employee health and safety throughout the life cycle of materials and processes. This is accomplished by eliminating hazards and reducing worker risks to an acceptable level “at the source”, or as early as possible in the life cycle of items or workplaces which includes design, redesign, and retrofit new and existing work premises, structures, tools, facilities, equipment, machinery, products, substances, work processes, and work organization.

Research to Practice to Research (RtPtR) model can offer an essential role of transferring occupational safety, health and ergonomics (OSHE) knowledge and interventions into highly effective prevention practices for improving the worker well-being and operational excellence in the workplace. Research to Practice (RtP) is a highly effective way to translate academic research into workplace practices. By extending RtP to encourage industry practitioners to communicate real-world exposures to academia (PtR), the gap is bridged between academic research and practical solutions to workplace safety, health, and ergonomic challenges i.e. RtPtR Model. There is compelling evidence that the RtPtR model offers pathways to move promising OSHE concepts from research to practice and to move important OSHE problems from practice to research. For instance, the RtPtR has been successfully applied to a variety of topics, e.g., bridging the gap between applying the NIOSH Revised Lifting Equation (NRLE) to workers’ changing psychophysical characteristics, and related Safety, Health & Ergonomic strategies. Furthermore, to meet the challenges of today’s changing workforce (e.g., aging, demographic changes), the RtPtR resulted in a novel approach called Ergonomic Action Level (EAL) and B Factor to assist safety and ergonomic professionals pre-plan ergonomic controls into construction processes. The RtPtR model can meaningfully contribute to future construction safety and health management practices and research by providing comprehensive knowledge of the performance, influence factors, and safety/health/ergonomic needs for construction workers. More research is desperately needed for site-specific OSHE issues and interventions for older construction workers in order to provide practical and cost-effective solutions to address the challenges of an aging workforce in the U.S. and beyond.