Falls in construction: injury rates for OSHA-inspected employers before and after citation for violating the Washington State Fall Protection Standard

Abstract

This study examined the relationship between Washington's fall protection standard and injuries in construction workers. Workers' compensation claim rates for falls were examined for employers that were cited for violating the standard over the 1991-1992 period. Fall injury rates for the periods before and after inspections were compared. Claims for a control group of employers that had not been cited were also examined. For the 784 cited employers, the claim rate for compensable fall injuries decreased from 1.78 to 1.39 per 200,000 hours worked for the one-year periods before and after inspection. For the control group (n = 8,301), the claim rate decreased from 1.04 to 0.95 per 200,000 hours. Cited employers were 2.3 times as likely as control employers (p < 0.0001) to experience a claim rate reduction, after adjustment for employer size and type of business. Results suggested that industry-wide fall injury rates might be expected to decrease if more employers were inspected.