A Scoping Review of Interventions to Improve Occupational Safety and Health of Construction Workers

Abstract

Objective This review comprehensively examines interventions which sought to improve the occupational safety and/or health of construction workers. Factors that explain the (in)effectiveness of interventions were also summarized. Data Source This review consisted of a search using two electronic databases, PubMed and Web of Science. Study Inclusion and Exclusion Criteria Targeted workers in the construction industry; had at least one primary outcome that aimed to improve occupational safety and/or health; were published between January 01, 1990 and December 01, 2019; and were written in English. Data Extraction and Synthesis Two researchers independently carried out the process of reviewing the titles, abstracts and full texts, and extracted all data. If there were differences, discussions were held until a consensus was reached. Results A total of 1297 articles were retrieved and 24 were selected for final evaluation. Seventeen studies reported significant intervention effects, while 7 found their primary outcome not significantly improved. Conclusion Future research should place more effort on interventions aimed at improving both occupational safety and health outcomes in an integrated manner, with environmental interventions that accompany behavioral interventions at the individual level. Besides, additional effort is also needed to ensure the involvement of relevant stakeholders in designing the intervention, avoiding contamination effects (through cluster randomization), optimizing the “dosage” of intervention, and improving measurement of outcomes.