Washington — Targeted interventions and health programs are needed to reduce tobacco use, binge drinking and other health risk behaviors prevalent among construction workers, NIOSH researchers concluded in a recent study.
Using 2013-2016 data from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, the researchers compared the frequency of six health risk behaviors – smoking, smokeless tobacco use, binge drinking, no leisure-time physical activity, not always wearing a seat belt and getting less than seven hours of sleep a night – among construction workers with workers in other industries.
They found that:
- Carpenters, construction laborers and roofers had a significantly elevated prevalence of five of the behaviors, not including short sleep.
- Construction managers were more likely to smoke, use smokeless tobacco, binge drink and not wear a seat belt.
- Roofers, as well as electrical power-line installers and repairers, were more likely to binge drink.
- Operating engineers, who operate and maintain heavy equipment, had a high rate of smokeless tobacco use.
“Construction workers are in physically demanding jobs and exposed to many chemical and physical workplace hazards, with falls remaining the leading cause of work-related deaths in construction,” a June 23 press release from NIOSH states. “Previous studies suggested that construction workers who exhibit certain health risk behaviors may be more likely to experience work-related injuries.”
The new study was published online May 12 in the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine.
