Potential worker safety hazards affect every American employee. Desk workers risk repetitive stress injuries, drivers risk motor vehicle accidents and individuals involved in the commercial fishing industry risk a host of injuries caused by a multitude of potential hazards. Each worker in every industry is vulnerable in his or her own way.
However, some workers are particularly vulnerable to devastating and life-threatening injuries that can be prevented if their unique circumstances are addressed with care. One example of a particularly vulnerable workforce population is female construction workers. These workers are even more at risk of suffering injury resulting from construction accidents because their safety equipment is not tailored to their body types.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is taking steps to address the unique safety needs of female construction workers. It has formed an alliance with the prominent National Association of Women in Construction in order to ensure that the efforts it makes will substantially impact women in the construction industry. Among the alliance’s top priorities is developing various training resources uniquely tailored to the female construction worker population.
In addition to training resources, the alliance will address the issue of ill-fitting personal safety equipment and will work to reduce various sanitation and musculoskeletal hazards that specifically affect women who work in the construction industry. Sometimes general safety improvements do not address the most pressing issues affecting unique populations. The new OSHA alliance aims to prevent further injuries specifically affecting women who work each day in a particularly hazardous industry.
Source: United States Department of Labor, “OSHA signs alliance, creates Web page to protect safety and health of female construction workers,” Aug. 22, 2013