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© Oregon Trades Women, Inc /
Dawn Jones Redstone
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Construction workers experience many health and safety concerns including falls, being struck by/against machinery, musculoskeletal disorders, and chronic health hazards from contaminants. Women workers face additional gender-specific hazards such as inadequate physical protection, unsanitary facilities, and stress from discrimination and harassment. As opportunities for women in the trades continue to grow in the Pacific Northwest, better understanding of tradeswomen's unique exposure to workplace hazards is needed.
Northwest Center ERC Faculty Member Noah Seixas, PhD, and DEOHS Staff Member Hannah
Curtis, MPH have embarked on a project designed to identify the primary work-related health and safety risks to tradeswomen, and inform intervention strategies to address this population's health and safety challenges.
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© Oregon Trades Women, Inc /
Dawn Jones Redstone
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The Safety and Health Empowerment for Women in Trades
(SHEWT) project is a two-part collaborative project with the Washington State
Labor Education and Research Center and Washington Women in Trades. Funding and support for SHEWT is provided by
the State of Washington, Department of Labor and Industries, Safety and Health
Investment Projects.
Phase I
(2014-2016) used focus groups and a survey to investigate the nature,
range, and extent of health and safety risks affecting women in the
construction industry in WA State. Building off the research findings, phase II
(2016-2018) will address tradeswomen’s workplace psychosocial stressors through
the development, implementation, and evaluation of a pilot mentoring program.
This program will train journey-level women and men to support female
apprentices as they navigate construction work and safety cultures.
Hannah and Noah's research has guided by several key
questions regarding the safety and health of women in trades:
- What are the health and safety exposures related to
workplace stress, injury risk, and psychosocial factors experienced by women
working in the construction trades?
- How are exposures different between tradeswomen and
tradesmen?
- What support systems exist to address women’s work-related
risks and how could they be improved?
- What impact would a mentoring program have on health and
safety communication and compliance for female apprentices?
From the phase I focus groups conducted with 19 tradeswomen
and 6 tradesmen, researchers learned
that key workplace stressors affecting tradeswomen are:
- Dangerous work environment
- Physical limitations
- Inadequate personal protective equipment (PPE)
- Physical overcompensation due to a need to constantly prove
themselves
- Gender discrimination and unequal training
- Sexual harassment
- Fear of layoff for reporting concerns
- Poor work-life balance
- Tokenism
- Lack of support
Survey analysis is ongoing but preliminary results from 198
tradeswomen and 93 tradesmen, representing a wide variety of trade professions
and career levels around WA State, revealed:
- Women scored significantly higher than men on the perceived
stress scale
- Women were more likely to report PPE not fitting properly,
especially for coveralls and full harnesses
- 40% of women felt discriminated against at work because of
their gender
- More than half of the surveyed women reported pushing
themselves past their physical comfort at least half of the time to get the job
done
Solutions suggested by survey participants included improved
education and training; mentoring; and increasing women's representation in
leadership roles.
Upon completion of phase I, Research Coordinator Hannah
Curtis said,
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© Oregon Trades Women, Inc /
Dawn Jones Redstone
|
"It is disheartening, but not altogether surprising, to
learn that the physical and psychosocial stressors affecting tradeswomen at
work have not changed much in the past
three decades. Women continue to represent a small minority (2.7%) of skilled
trades workers, which contributes to their health and safety needs not being
met. Talking with tradeswomen opened my eyes to the hazards of working in a
hostile, male-dominated culture, but it also revealed the strength of women who
have real pride in their work and are breaking down employment barriers."
The SHEWT project is now in phase II through 2018. During
phase II Noah, Hannah, and other project contributors aim to assess the
effectiveness of a mentor program to combat some of the workplace risks and
stressors tradeswomen have reported.
The Pacific Northwest OSHA Education Center "Heartbeat
of Health and Safety Podcast" program recently interview Hannah and other
project contributors about the SHEWT project, and the risks women in trades are
facing.
Listen to the podcast episode here.
