ABSTRACT
Traditionally, occupational health and safety (OHS) research has focused heavily on the prevention of accidents that give rise to acute effect injuries. However, far less attention has been paid to the issue of construction workers' health. Good health contributes to economic and social well-being, while poor health keeps people from working and causes significant hardship. Construction workers experience elevated rates of contact dermatitis, all types of skin neoplasm, non-malignant pleural disease, mesothelioma, lung cancer, pneumoconiosis and musculoskeletal disorders. In the United Kingdom (UK), over half of the occupational attributable cancer deaths are the result of exposures within construction. In the United Kingdom and many other countries that have adopted the principle-based regulatory model, the legislation requires duty holders to reduce risks to workers' health and safety to be as low as reasonably practicable (ALARP). Underpinning the ALARP principle is a hierarchy of control (HOC) that classifies ways of controlling hazards according to their level of effectiveness.
