Do Variations in State Consultation Programs Affect Construction Fatality Rates?

BACKGROUND: Along with its enforcement program, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has a voluntary consultation program that responds to requests from firms to identify hazards at their workplaces. We studied the effects of this program on fatal work injuries in the construction industry. METHODS: We first examined differences across states in their consultation programs using data from 2016 through 2022, during which time 47,418 consultation visits were conducted in construction. These included differences in frequency of consultation visits at construction firms, the average number of hazards identified per visit, and the scope of those visits. We then used regression analysis to identify the connection between those characteristics and the state's construction fatality rate. We distinguished between the 21 State Plan states which ran their own OSHA enforcement programs and the 29 states where Federal OSHA did the enforcement. RESULTS: State Plan states generally had higher rates of consultation visits that covered more of the worksite and identified higher rates of serious hazards per 1000 workers than Federal states. In regression analyses, State Plan consultation rates were negatively and significantly related to their construction fatality rates. Interactions of consultation rates and average visit hazards or visit scope showed a significant negative relationship with construction fatality rates. The relationship for Federal states was similar though not always significant. CONCLUSIONS: More frequent consultation visits to a state's construction firms and more hazards identified or greater visit scope were associated with lower construction fatality rates.