JOURNAL: ISSUE 4 - 2014

“Identifying equipment and work practices to prevent injuries and illnesses is one thing – but setting priorities, understanding what will or won’t work, and ultimately getting the solutions that come out of the safety and health research into use on construction sites can’t happen without the active participation of our instructors and members,” BAC President James Boland told attendees during the launch of a new research to practice (r2p) program – the Trainers-Researchers United Network or TRU-Net.

Speaking to a broad-cross section of building trades safety and health trainers and researchers from across the country at the 2014 CPWR Trainer Enhancement Program, Boland outlined the many ways that BAC is at the forefront of identifying practical, member driven solutions to job site hazards.

As chair of the Building & Construction Trades Department’s Silica Sub-Committee, he told attendees, BAC played a pivotal role in raising awareness of the hazard, educating policy-makers on the availability of solutions, and moving the standard-setting process forward.  “While the fights not over,” said Boland, “we’re closer than ever before to having a standard in place that will protect all construction workers.”

In addition to tackling hazards such as silica that labor and management have not yet reached agreement on, he described the union’s long standing commitment to supporting new research initiatives undertaken by CPWR, including recent efforts to build consensus and promote use of the research findings through stakeholder partnerships. “In late 2010 we took this to the next level by forming the Masonry Research to Practice Partnership,” said Boland. “This partnership created a forum through which our union, our employers, and our trainers could join forces with researchers, manufacturers and other industry stakeholders to raise awareness of safer worker practices and equipment – and more importantly get them into use on construction sites.“

Under the Partnership’s guidance, online safety and health resource and training materials have been developed that benefit the masonry industry, as well as other segments of the construction industry.  “Throughout our work on this r2p partnership we’ve been tracking our progress and sharing lessons learned on what works and doesn’t work so that other industry segments can benefit from our experience,” said Boland. “The active participation of our training staff in the Partnership has, and continues to be, critical to translating safety and health research into practice – as well as identifying emerging issues that we need to find solutions for. 

In fact, when CPWR was considering the concept for TRU-Net, the Partnership was used to test out the concept.   Since work on the ChooseHandSafety website was just getting underway, the Partnership connected the researchers with our trainers and trainees to find answer to a series of research questions related to products and tools, ways to prevent injuries and skin disorders, barriers to use of preventive measures, and methods of communicating this information to workers and contractors.  This input served as the basis for developing much of the content and the format of the website.  What was learned is being incorporated into training programs and BAC is continuing to work with CPWR researchers on several other initiatives involving ergonomics and research to practice.

“I’m pleased to offer my support for the latest of these,” said Boland. “TRU-Net formalizes the relationship between trainers and researchers and creates an important mechanism to ensure that workers and trainers – those on the front line – have a direct voice in the types of safety and health research conducted and the results.

Research to Practice – Online Resources

www.silica-safe.org

www.choosehandsafety.org

www.cdc.gov/niosh/topics/buyquiet/default.html

www.ot.wustl.edu/fptech/index.htm

Masonry r2p Partnership