A new Web site on construction safety and health has been created by Center to Protect Workers'' Rights.
The site, the Electronic Library of Construction Occupational Safety and Health, or eLCOSH, provides materials on a wide range of topics from the United States and abroad at www.cdc.gov/niosh/elcosh/elcoshom.html.
Funded by a five year grant from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health.
"This is an opportunity to make information that can protect lives easily accessible by managers, researchers, policymakers, and workers," said Edward C. Sullivan, president of the Center to Protect Workers'' Rights, and the Building and Construction Trades Department of the AFL-CIO.
"For too long, construction has killed more workers in this country each year than any other industry," said Sullivan. "We hope resources such as eLCOSH will enable us to turn the corner."
More than 1,000 construction workers are killed each year in the United States by injuries on the job, an undetermined number die from work-related illnesses, according to the Center.
The Web site is aimed at a broad spectrum of users including:
- workers who want to know about hazards and how to protect themselves;
- contractors, owners, and designers seeking information on what they can do to protect workers from some hazards;
- doctors seeking details on symptoms that might result from hazards their patients can encounter on the job; and
- policymakers and researchers who wish to learn about issues in construction safety and health.
The site includes many items updated periodically, such as brochures, pocket cards, short articles, safety checklists, statistics, industry data and annotated links to other related sites.
Some of the material on the site is available in Spanish, and more non-English materials will be added, according to the Center.
by Virginia Sutcliffe