Injury control researchers from the West Virginia University School of Public Health and the University of California Berkley will conduct a three year study to explore what constitutes effective health and safety education in post-secondary Career Technical Education (CTE) construction programs.
[Photo: Dr. Kimberly Rauscher]
Co-PIs Dr. Kimberly Rauscher, Department of Occupational and Environmental Health Sciences, West Virginia University, Ms. Diane Bush, Labor Occupational Health Program, University of California, Berkley, and team member Dr. Douglas Myers, Department of Occupational & Environmental Health Sciences, West Virginia University plan to use the findings to recommend necessary improvements to the safety education offered students in post-secondary CTE programs to help reduce injury in the young construction workforce.
The U.S. construction industry accounts for almost one quarter of all traumatic occupational fatalities, more than any other industry. Many of the new employees that begin in the construction labor force will have participated in post-secondary Career Technical Education (CTE) programs yet little is known about the quality of the health and safety instruction students in these programs receive and how well prepared they are to deal with the hazards in the industry.
Funding for the project is provided by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health and is one of several sub-projects within the National Center for Construction Research and Training (CPWR).