title: Young worker safety in construction: do family ties and workgroup size affect hazard exposures and safety practices?
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Little is known about how social aspects of the work environment influence exposures or safety practices affecting young construction workers. Our objective was to investigate whether working on a construction site with a small number of workers (≤10 vs. 11-50) or having a family-firm connection (working in a family-owned firm or one in which a family member also works) impacts hazard exposures and safety practices.
  
  
  METHODS
  Participants included 187 North Carolina construction workers 14 to 17 years old who were surveyed about their jobs.
  
  
  METHODS
  We conducted stratified analyses using cross-tabulations and chi-square statistics to measure associations between workgroup size (i.e., the total number of workers on a jobsite) and family-firm connections (yes/no) and hazard exposures (e.g., saws) and safety practices (e.g., supervision).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Having a family-firm connection was associated with fewer hazard exposures and greater safety practices. Youth who worked on jobsites with a larger workgroup (11-50 workers) reported more hazards but also more safety practices.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Family-firm connections, in particular, may have a protective effect for youth in construction. Even though the statistical significance of our findings on workgroup size was limited in places, the pattern of differences found suggest that further research in this area is warranted.
authors.affiliation: Department of Community Medicine, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV, USA. krauscher@hsc.wvu.edu
authors.forename: Kimberly J
authors.initials: KJ
authors.lastname: Rauscher
authors.forename: Douglas J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Myers
authors.forename: Carol W
authors.initials: CW
authors.lastname: Runyan
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Schulman
mesh_terms: D000288:Administrative Personnel / Q000592:standards; D000293:Adolescent; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D002648:Child; D060389:Construction Industry; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004651:Employment / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D004864:Equipment and Supplies / Q000592:standards; D005191:Family Characteristics / Q000208:ethnology; D005260:Female; D006127:Group Structure; D006801:Humans; D007318:Inservice Training / Q000592:standards / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008297:Male; D009657:North Carolina; D016273:Occupational Exposure / Q000009:adverse effects*; D016272:Occupational Health / Q000193:education; D011368:Professional-Family Relations; D011482:Protective Devices; D017751:Safety Management / Q000592:standards*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D000078329:Workforce; D016526:Workload / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data