BACKGROUND: The construction industry in India heavily relies on unorganized workers, who often lack adequate access to safety measures, placing them at significant risk of accidents and injuries. The objective was to determine risk perceptions of construction workers, and explore their safety practices, facilitators, and barriers.
METHODS: A mixed-methods approach with a convergent parallel design (QUAN + qual) was undertaken. Quantitative strand included face-to-face interviews with 203 randomly selected building construction workers from 10 construction sites in five selected municipal wards in Kolkata. Questions pertained to socio-demographics, occupational characteristics, risk perception, and safety practices. The qualitative arm involved key informant interviews to unravel the facilitators and barriers affecting safety practices and nonparticipant observation.
RESULTS: The perceived risk for respiratory problems due to dust, pain from carrying loads, slips, trips or falls, and heat-related illnesses was in the medium- to high category for 64.0%, 58.6%, 39.9%, and 36.5% of the study participants, respectively. However, the safety practices for these respective domains were in the good practice category for 6.9%, 4.9%, 54.2%, and 34.5% of the workers. From the qualitative arm, it was evident that availability of PPE, a conducive environment, and availability of worker-friendly technology could be important predictors of safety practices. Barriers such as time constraints and feasibility due to discomfort and expenditure were also identified.
CONCLUSIONS: Despite high-risk perception, safety practices were not consistently good among construction workers. Further research is crucial to enhance the health and safety of unorganized workers in India.

UNASSIGNED: Construction laborers succumb to poor health due to the inherent workplace health hazards and poor socio-economic living conditions. With rising healthcare expenses, the increased risk of poor health may aggravate their economic status, pushing them deeper into poverty.
UNASSIGNED: The current cross-sectional multicenter study comprehensively investigated the determinants of health, health-seeking behavior, and poor economic impact regarding catastrophic health expenditure (CHE) among construction laborers.
UNASSIGNED: We collected details on illnesses among self and family members of the construction laborers that required healthcare visits during the previous year and their approximate expenses. Among the 1110 participants with complete data, 37% reported illness requiring a healthcare visit either for self or a family member.
UNASSIGNED: Regression models to ascertain demographic and living condition determinants of perceived illness revealed an increased risk of illness when the kitchen is shared with the living space (OR = 1.87) and use unhygienic smoky cooking fuels (OR = 1.87). More than 25% of those who reported illness incurred CHE.
UNASSIGNED: We conclude that the frequency of perceived illness and the economic impact, i.e., CHE is relatively higher among the construction laborers. Our results demonstrate that poor living conditions add to the burden of morbidity in construction workers and families. Providing healthcare coverage for this population and engaging and educating them about affordable healthcare are necessary future steps to prevent the worsening of the economic situation.

UNASSIGNED: Sleep is critical for human physical and cognitive health. Even though poor sleep quality had a major negative impact on workers\' health and safety, there is a scarcity of study that attempts to demonstrate its magnitude and causative factors in labor-intensive environments.
UNASSIGNED: A cross-sectional study design was employed. A total of 423 individuals were selected using a simple random sampling technique, starting from April 1, 2020 to May 1, 2020. Interviews were administered using the validated and pretested Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) tool. EpiData version 4.4.3.1 was used for data entry and SPSS version 25 for analysis. To associate factors with poor sleep quality binary logistic regression model was fitted at 95% confidence interval (CI). A p < 0.25 and p < 0.05 were used to declare association in bivariable and multivariable analysis, respectively.
UNASSIGNED: A total of 415 building construction workers take part in this study, with a response rate of 98.1%. A PSQI global score showed 66.3% (95% CI: [0.63, 0.71]) of construction workers suffering from poor sleep quality. Working hours, work experience, previous injury status, managerial support on occupational safety and health, cigarette smoking, and job satisfaction were the factors that were associated with poor sleep quality significantly.
UNASSIGNED: Two-thirds of construction workers suffer from poor sleep quality. Risk factors include shorter working years, longer working hours, prior injury, lack of managerial support, cigarette smoking, and low job satisfaction. Efficient health education and promotion through taking the identified associated factors into account could help reduce poor sleep quality.

The construction industry is accident-prone, and unsafe behaviors of construction workers have been identified as a leading cause of accidents. One important countermeasure to prevent accidents is monitoring and managing those unsafe behaviors. The most popular way of detecting and identifying workers\' unsafe behaviors is the computer vision-based intelligent monitoring system. However, most of the existing research or products focused only on the workers\' behaviors (i.e., motions) recognition, limited studies considered the interaction between man-machine, man-material or man-environments. Those interactions are very important for judging whether the workers\' behaviors are safe or not, from the standpoint of safety management. This study aims to develop a new method of identifying construction workers\' unsafe behaviors, i.e., unsafe interaction between man-machine/material, based on ST-GCN (Spatial Temporal Graph Convolutional Networks) and YOLO (You Only Look Once), which could provide more direct and valuable information for safety management. In this study, two trained YOLO-based models were, respectively, used to detect safety signs in the workplace, and objects that interacted with workers. Then, an ST-GCN model was trained to detect and identify workers\' behaviors. Lastly, a decision algorithm was developed considering interactions between man-machine/material, based on YOLO and ST-GCN results. Results show good performance of the developed method, compared to only using ST-GCN, the accuracy was significantly improved from 51.79% to 85.71%, 61.61% to 99.11%, and 58.04% to 100.00%, respectively, in the identification of the following three kinds of behaviors, throwing (throwing hammer, throwing bottle), operating (turning on switch, putting bottle), and crossing (crossing railing and crossing obstacle). The findings of the study have some practical implications for safety management, especially workers\' behavior monitoring and management.

The impact of occupational factors on serum cytokine concentrations has not been extensively explored. In this preliminary investigation, we measured the amounts of 12 cytokines in the serum of healthy individuals, comparing three diverse professional categories (aviation pilots, building laborers, and exercise trainers) with distinct work settings and lifestyle factors.
The study sample comprised 60 men from three distinct professional fields - airline pilots, construction laborers, and fitness trainers (20 participants per category) - who were enlisted during regular outpatient occupational health appointments. Serum levels of interleukin (IL)-1β, IL-2, IL-4, IL-5, IL-6, IL-8, IL-10, IL-12p70, IL-17, tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α, interferon (IFN)-α, and IFN-γ were measured on a Luminex® platform using a specific kit. Cytokine levels were compared among the three professional groups to determine any significant differences.
Among the three occupational groups, fitness instructors demonstrated elevated IL-4 concentrations in comparison to both airline pilots and construction laborers, with no significant difference between the latter two professions. Additionally, a stepwise increase in IL-6 levels was identified, commencing with fitness instructors presenting the lowest quantities, succeeded by construction workers, and culminating with airline pilots, who displayed the most elevated concentrations.
Serum cytokine levels in healthy individuals can exhibit variations based on their occupation. Given the unfavorable cytokine profile detected in airline pilots, it is crucial for the aviation sector to tackle potential health concerns within their employees.

BACKGROUND: The term \"WORKbiota\" has been used to describe the impact of occupational exposure and work types on human microbiota composition. Airline pilots, construction workers, and fitness instructors encompass three diverse professional groups, each with distinct work environments and lifestyle factors that may significantly influence their intestinal \"WORKbiota.\"
OBJECTIVE: The current preliminary investigation was aimed to compare the relative abundance of specific gut microbes among airline pilots, construction workers, and fitness instructors to shed light on any significant differences. By scrutinizing these diverse professional groups, our objective was to enhance our understanding of how occupational factors influence gut microbiota while identifying possible implications for occupational medicine.
METHODS: A convenience sample consisting of 60 men representing three different professional domains - airline pilots, construction workers, and fitness instructors (with 20 individuals in each group) - was selected during regular outpatient occupational health consultations. The abundance of selected gut microbiota constituents, including Escherichia coli, Methanobrevibacter smithii, Akkermansia muciniphila, Faecalibacterium prausnitzii, Lactobacillus spp., Bifidobacterium spp., and Bacteroides spp., was quantified using quantitative SYBR Green quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) in stool samples.
RESULTS: There were no significant variations among the groups concerning Escherichia coli, Methanobrevibacter smithii, Bifidobacterium spp., and Bacteroides spp. However, Lactobacillus spp. and Faecalibacterium prausnitzii were significantly more abundant in the microbiota of fitness instructors compared to both airline pilots and construction workers, with no significant differences observed between the latter two groups. Notably, the abundance of Akkermansia muciniphila demonstrated a progressive decline from fitness instructors to construction workers and ultimately to airline pilots, who exhibited the lowest levels.
CONCLUSIONS: Airline pilots\' gut microbiota was characterized by a lower abundance of health-promoting bacterial species, including Lactobacillus spp., Faecalibacterium prausnitzii, and Akkermansia muciniphila. Future research is essential to determine whether targeted interventions, such as probiotic and prebiotic supplementation, could potentially enhance gut microbiota composition and overall health in particular occupational groups.

Latino construction workers in the U.S. have faced a disproportionate risk for COVID-19 infection in the workplace. Prior studies have focused on quantifying workplace risk for COVID-19 infection; few have captured workers\' experiences and perspectives. This study describes COVID-19-related workplace risks from the perspectives of Latino construction workers. We conducted a qualitative study using semi-structured phone interviews with Latino construction workers from the Fruitvale District of Oakland, California. Twenty individuals were interviewed from December 2020 to March 2021. Nearly all participants (19/20) were Spanish-speaking men; mean age 42.6 years. The majority were low-income and over one-third did not have health insurance. Participants worked in varied construction-related jobs ranging from demolition to office work; additionally, four were day laborers, and three belonged to a labor union. We identified four major themes with public health policy and workplace safety implications: (1) Major concern about the risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection for family health and economic wellbeing; (2) Clarity about mask use and social distancing but not disclosure; (3) Variability in access to additional resources provided by employers; and (4) Uncertainty around structural support for SARS-CoV-2 quarantine/isolation. Our findings provide further evidence from workers\' own perspectives of the major gaps experienced during the pandemic in workplace protections and resources.

The construction industry is known to be of high-risk when compared to other industries. Ambient temperature can also exacerbate this risk, where hot weather conditions can lead to increased physical and mental fatigue, reduced performance, slower reactions and more human errors. Yet this issue is rarely researched objectively. This paper describes a longitudinal empirical study that aimed to assess how high ambient temperatures affect construction workers performance.
A sample of 120 randomly selected workers (age range 22-35 years) from a large construction company in Dubai participated in this study. Since construction workers performance cannot be directly measured due to the nature of work involved, performance of 60 participants was measured on a task battery involving single reaction time and choice reaction time in summer months before starting work and 5.5 h after starting work. Then the same procedure was repeated on 60 workers in winter months. Accident reports for one full year within the same company were also collected and analyzed.
Results show that performance on both tasks before starting work was significantly lower in summer than in winter months possibly due to accumulated fatigue resulting from the high ambient temperature in summer. Results also show that performance on both tasks significantly deteriorated during the first 5.5 h of work to a greater extent in summer months than in winter months. Results also indicate that accidents showed an increasing trend in summer months.
Accumulated fatigue due to high ambient temperature in Summer is thought to cause this drop in performance and increase in accidents.
Based on the findings, recommendations to enhance construction workers performance and reduce accidents are given.

The unsafe behavior of construction workers is the key cause of safety accidents. The accident investigation report contains rich experience and lessons, which can be used to prevent and reduce the occurrence of safety accidents. In order to draw lessons from the accident and realize knowledge sharing and reuse, this paper uses text mining technology to analyze the data of 500 construction accident investigation reports in Shenzhen, China. Firstly, a Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) topic model is used to identify the unsafe behavior of construction workers and its influencing factors. Then, with the help of Social Network Analysis, the importance of influencing factors and the relationship between them are identified. The results show that weak safety awareness, operating regulations, supervision dereliction of duty, equipment resources, and inadequate supervision of the construction party are the key and important factors. It is also found that there are correlations between weak safety awareness and supervision dereliction of duty, between equipment resources and poor construction environment, between organization and coordination and inadequate supervision of the construction party, and between operating regulations and hidden dangers investigation. This study not only helps to improve the theoretical system in the field of construction workers\' unsafe behavior but also helps managers to find the key control direction of construction safety, so as to effectively curb unsafe behavior of construction workers and improve the level of safety management.

BACKGROUND: Occupational hazards at the building construction workplace are enormous. Good compliance to the use of personal protective equipment (PPE) alongside other safety measures is critical in reducing the hazards. Occupational hearing loss is one such occupational hazard among construction workers.
OBJECTIVE: This study was conducted for determining the awareness of the benefits of PPE and its usage among construction workers along with hearing assessment.
METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted among construction workers in a building project in Mangaluru city in Dakshina Kannada district in South India.
METHODS: After obtaining informed written consent, 110 construction workers were recruited by simple random sampling method. Basic information, awareness, and use of PPE were collected using a semistructured questionnaire through personal interviews. Hearing assessment was done by pure tone audiometry.
METHODS: Data collected was analyzed. Chi-square test and Fischer\'s exact probability test were used to test the association between variables.
RESULTS: Majority (85.5%) of the construction workers are working for duration of 15 years or less. Difficulty in hearing was reported by 9.6% of them. Awareness regarding benefits of using personal protective devices like helmets, masks, and earplugs/muffs were 58.2%, 56.4%, and 14.5%, respectively. The utilization of at least one PPE among them was 58.1%. The presence of sensory neural hearing loss (SNHL) in both/either ears was detected among 14.5% of the workers. There was a statistically significant association of SNHL among workers and their duration of construction work.
CONCLUSIONS: The current study highlights that awareness and usage of PPE was low and a proportion of them had a hearing impairment. Occupational health and safety training along with a periodic examination of construction workers need to be focused so as to detect and manage occupational health hazards early.