title: Access to properly fitting personal protective equipment for female construction workers.
abstract: Previous literature suggests that most personal protective equipment (PPE) for construction is designed for males and does not accommodate female anthropometry. We conducted a pilot study to identify whether female construction workers currently have adequate access to properly fitting PPE.
  
  
  
  Semi-structured focus group interviews were conducted with union female carpenters, laborers, and ironworkers. Researchers coded focus group transcriptions and extracted major themes using thematic framework analysis.
  
  
  
  Participants (n = 23) had a mean of 15.1 years of construction experience (range 3-34.5 years). A majority reported fit problems for many types of PPE (gloves, harnesses, safety vests, work boots, outerwear), generally noting that the equipment provided by contractors was too large. Other emergent themes included female workers purchasing their own PPE, exposure to various safety hazards from poorly fitted PPE, and perceived indifferent safety culture.
  
  
  
  Female construction workers continue to have difficulty accessing properly fitting PPE. Am. J. Ind. Med. 59:1032-1040, 2016. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
authors.affiliation: Department of Preventive Medicine, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, New York.
authors.forename: Lynn C
authors.initials: LC
authors.lastname: Onyebeke
authors.affiliation: Department of Preventive Medicine, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, New York. demetrios.papazaharias@mssm.edu.
authors.forename: Demetrios M
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Papazaharias
authors.affiliation: Woodrow Wilson Teaching Fellowship, Montclair State University, Montclair, New Jersey.
authors.forename: Alice
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Freund
authors.affiliation: Occupational Medicine and Epidemiology, Hofstra Northwell School of Medicine at Hofstra University, Great Neck, New York.
authors.forename: Jonathan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Dropkin
authors.affiliation: Department of Preventive Medicine, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, New York.
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: McCann
authors.affiliation: Department of Preventive Medicine, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, New York.
authors.forename: Sadie H
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Sanchez
authors.affiliation: Department of Preventive Medicine, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, New York.
authors.forename: Dana
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Hashim
authors.affiliation: Department of Preventive Medicine, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, New York.
authors.forename: John D
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Meyer
authors.affiliation: Department of Preventive Medicine, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, New York.|Occupational Medicine, University of Brescia, Brescia, Italy.
authors.forename: Roberto G
authors.initials: RG
authors.lastname: Lucchini
authors.affiliation: Department of Preventive Medicine, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, New York.
authors.forename: Norman C
authors.initials: NC
authors.lastname: Zuckerman
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D060389:Construction Industry; D005260:Female; D017144:Focus Groups; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D015279:Organizational Culture; D000067393:Personal Protective Equipment / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D010865:Pilot Projects; D017751:Safety Management; D017132:Workplace / Q000523:psychology*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: anthropometry; construction industry; female; focus groups; safety