Women in the U.S. construction industry: An analysis of fatal occupational injury experience, 1980 to 1992

Abstract

Analysis of 139 deaths to U.S. female construction workers identified from a death certificate-based surveillance system during 1980-1992 showed that female workers in transportation and material moving had 59 and 85% higher mortality rates than male construction workers in the same occupation from motor vehicles (the leading cause of occupational injury death for women, 43.2%) and machinery (the second leading cause of occupational injury death for women, 15.8%), respectively. Female handlers, equipment cleaners, helpers, and laborers had 73% higher mortality rates than their male counterparts from motor vehicles. Two-thirds of women in construction killed by motor vehicles were pedestrians, compared with an average of 19.2% of women in all industries. Half the female pedestrian decedents in construction were flaggers, compared with 3.4% of construction men killed by motor vehicles. Construction women had higher cause-specific years of potential life lost (to age 65 years) than construction men from motor vehicles (33 vs. 24.8), machinery (29 vs. 24.8), homicide (26.1 vs. 24.6), and falls (31.9 vs, 24.7). Over half (53.2%) the female fatalities occurred before age 35 years, compared with 46% for males. The average fatality rate of 1.80 per 100,000 workers for female construction workers was higher than the rate for women in any other industry. The average rate per 100,000 workers for all industries was 0.77. Further studies are required to explore factors contributing to differences in leading causes of death between female and male construction workers. Development and evaluation of prevention measures, such as effective traffic control in highway construction work zones, fall protection training, and machinery-operation training, could reduce the risks for fatal occupational injuries for construction workers, regardless of gender.