A History of Construction Research:
A collaborative project of CSAO and CRE-MSD

This research is in its fourth stage. The initial stage was a seed grant funded by CRE-MSD. It was a collaborative research project with researchers from the University of Waterloo and the Institute for Work & Health (IWH), together with key members of the Construction Safety Association of Ontario (CSAO). That grant ($10,000 for a year) allowed the researchers to establish a relationship of trust with our CSAO partners, which facilitated the commitment to pursue are search agenda focused on the prevention of musculoskeletal disorders. The process helped the researchers gain a deeper knowledge of the sector, explore the areas of greatest need for ergonomics, identify some of the barriers and facilitators of implementing ergonomic programs, and get a “feel” for the uniqueness of the sector.

The WSIB-RAC Bridging the Gap grant in 2005 (WSIB #05-15), continued to build the strong workplace-researcher partnership (between the two research institutions, CRE-MSD and IWH, and the CSAO) that was both informative and very productive (journal-article submitted, four posters, and three articles published in the abstracts for the 2007 ACE conference emerged from this study). The study examined the dissemination of knowledge of an ergonomic intervention by opinion leaders in the construction sector. The intervention was a hydraulic ladder lift that aided with loading and unloading of ladders off van roofs. Through multiple dissemination strategies, knowledge of the innovation reached at least 32 more companies and potentially several thousand other employees. The study showed the potential for using informal opinion leaders and workers to disseminate innovations. We also learnt the importance of choosing an innovation that is used often enough (intensity and frequency of use) for a change to be significant.

A third grant, focused on soliciting innovations that were already being used in construction. This was done through a brainstorming conference with health and safety consultants, a consultation with experts, as well as from observations and audits on-site to see the innovations in use. A systematic audit of innovations used insitu has not been done before. These innovations were evaluated for their effectiveness, intensity of use, and judged whether they were significant improvements over what is considered traditional practice. A profile was taken of the innovative companies. This helped answer the question, “What characterizes the contractors who use new methods?” (Entzel, Albers and Welch, 2007). Their views and ideas on overcoming barrier to change and resistance to adopting innovations were elicited, which helped answer the question, “What information or action is needed to spread these new methods throughout the industry?” (Entzel, Albers and Welch, 2007).

The fourth stage in this project is a three-year study that was initiated in2008. The concepts and execution of the study have been significantly expanded. We will be disseminating a large number of innovations. We will also be disseminating ideas that have emerged from interviewing “early adopter” companies, and identifying the characteristics of these companies to the sector. We will have varying intensities of the diffusion. A large number of organizations, associations, and groups will be engaged in diffusing the innovations through their meetings and focus groups, electronic and print media. We will also have an ergonomist available for one-day site visits to help companies apply the innovations. We will conduct a complex networking analysis to quantify the extent of the diffusion of the innovations.