Skip to main content
NCBI home page
Occupational and Environmental Medicine logoLink to Occupational and Environmental Medicine
. 2004 May;61(5):419–425. doi: 10.1136/oem.2003.008680

All-cause and cause specific mortality in a cohort of 20 000 construction workers; results from a 10 year follow up

V Arndt 1, D Rothenbacher 1, U Daniel 1, B Zschenderlein 1, S Schuberth 1, H Brenner 1
PMCID: PMC1740777  PMID: 15090662

Abstract

Background: Construction workers are potentially exposed to many health hazards, including human carcinogens such as asbestos, silica, and other so-called "bystander" exposures from shared work places. The construction industry is also a high risk trade with respect to accidents.

Methods: A total of 19 943 male employees from the German construction industry who underwent occupational health examinations between 1986 and 1992 were followed up until 1999/2000.

Results: A total of 818 deaths occurred during the 10 year follow up (SMR 0.71; 95% CI 0.66 to 0.76). Among those were 299 deaths due to cancer (SMR 0.89; 95% CI 0.79 to 1.00) and 312 deaths due to cardiovascular diseases (SMR 0.59; 95% CI 0.51 to 0.68). Increased risk of mortality was found for non-transport accidents (SMR 1.61; 95% CI 1.15 to 2.27), especially due to falls (SMR 1.87; 95% CI 1.18 to 2.92) and being struck by falling objects (SMR 1.90; 95% CI 0.88 to 3.64). Excess mortality due to non-transport accidents was highest among labourers and young and middle-aged workers. Risk of getting killed by falling objects was especially high for foreign workers (SMR 4.28; 95% CI 1.17 to 11.01) and labourers (SMR 6.01; 95% CI 1.63 to 15.29).

Conclusion: Fatal injuries due to falls and being struck by falling objects pose particular health hazards among construction workers. Further efforts are necessary to reduce the number of fatal accidents and should address young and middle-aged, semi-skilled and foreign workers, in particular. The lower than expected cancer mortality deserves careful interpretation and futher follow up of the cohort.

Full Text

The Full Text of this article is available as a PDF (174.0 KB).

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Arndt V., Rothenbacher D., Brenner H., Fraisse E., Zschenderlein B., Daniel U., Schuberth S., Fliedner T. M. Older workers in the construction industry: results of a routine health examination and a five year follow up. Occup Environ Med. 1996 Oct;53(10):686–691. doi: 10.1136/oem.53.10.686. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Arrighi H. M., Hertz-Picciotto I. The evolving concept of the healthy worker survivor effect. Epidemiology. 1994 Mar;5(2):189–196. doi: 10.1097/00001648-199403000-00009. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Bell C. A., Stout N. A., Bender T. R., Conroy C. S., Crouse W. E., Myers J. R. Fatal occupational injuries in the United States, 1980 through 1985. JAMA. 1990 Jun 13;263(22):3047–3050. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Brüske-Hohlfeld I., Möhner M., Pohlabeln H., Ahrens W., Bolm-Audorff U., Kreienbrock L., Kreuzer M., Jahn I., Wichmann H. E., Jöckel K. H. Occupational lung cancer risk for men in Germany: results from a pooled case-control study. Am J Epidemiol. 2000 Feb 15;151(4):384–395. doi: 10.1093/oxfordjournals.aje.a010218. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Buskin S. E., Paulozzi L. J. Fatal injuries in the construction industry in Washington State. Am J Ind Med. 1987;11(4):453–460. doi: 10.1002/ajim.4700110408. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Dong W., Vaughan P., Sullivan K., Fletcher T. Mortality study of construction workers in the UK. Int J Epidemiol. 1995 Aug;24(4):750–757. doi: 10.1093/ije/24.4.750. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Engholm G., Englund A. Morbidity and mortality patterns in Sweden. Occup Med. 1995 Apr-Jun;10(2):261–268. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Engholm G., Englund A. Mortality and cancer incidence in various groups of construction workers. Occup Med. 1995 Apr-Jun;10(2):453–481. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Harford T. C., Brooks S. D. Cirrhosis mortality and occupation. J Stud Alcohol. 1992 Sep;53(5):463–468. doi: 10.15288/jsa.1992.53.463. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Jackson Seronda A., Loomis Dana. Fatal occupational injuries in the North Carolina construction industry, 1978-1994. Appl Occup Environ Hyg. 2002 Jan;17(1):27–33. doi: 10.1080/104732202753306122. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Junge B., Nagel M. Das Rauchverhalten in Deutschland. Gesundheitswesen. 1999 Dec;61(Spec No):S121–S125. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Kisner S. M., Fosbroke D. E. Injury hazards in the construction industry. J Occup Med. 1994 Feb;36(2):137–143. doi: 10.1097/00043764-199402000-00008. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Liddell F. D. Simple exact analysis of the standardised mortality ratio. J Epidemiol Community Health. 1984 Mar;38(1):85–88. doi: 10.1136/jech.38.1.85. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Lowery J. T., Borgerding J. A., Zhen B., Glazner J. E., Bondy J., Kreiss K. Risk factors for injury among construction workers at Denver International Airport. Am J Ind Med. 1998 Aug;34(2):113–120. doi: 10.1002/(sici)1097-0274(199808)34:2<113::aid-ajim3>3.0.co;2-y. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Ng T. P. Occupational mortality in Hong Kong, 1979-1983. Int J Epidemiol. 1988 Mar;17(1):105–110. doi: 10.1093/ije/17.1.105. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Notkola V. J., Martikainen P., Leino P. I. Time trends in mortality in forestry and construction workers in Finland 1970-85 and impact of adjustment for socioeconomic variables. J Epidemiol Community Health. 1993 Jun;47(3):186–191. doi: 10.1136/jech.47.3.186. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. Ore T., Fosbroke D. E. Motor vehicle fatalities in the United States construction industry. Accid Anal Prev. 1997 Sep;29(5):613–626. doi: 10.1016/s0001-4575(97)00013-4. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  18. Razum O., Zeeb H., Akgün H. S., Yilmaz S. Low overall mortality of Turkish residents in Germany persists and extends into a second generation: merely a healthy migrant effect? Trop Med Int Health. 1998 Apr;3(4):297–303. doi: 10.1046/j.1365-3156.1998.00233.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  19. Ringen K., Seegal J., Englund A. Safety and health in the construction industry. Annu Rev Public Health. 1995;16:165–188. doi: 10.1146/annurev.pu.16.050195.001121. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  20. Rittgen W., Becker N. SMR analysis of historical follow-up studies with missing death certificates. Biometrics. 2000 Dec;56(4):1164–1169. doi: 10.1111/j.0006-341x.2000.01164.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  21. Robinson C. F., Halperin W. E., Alterman T., Braddee R. W., Burnett C. A., Fosbroke D. E., Kisner S. M., Lalich N. R., Roscoe R. J., Seligman P. J. Mortality patterns among construction workers in the United States. Occup Med. 1995 Apr-Jun;10(2):269–283. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  22. Stern F. B., Sweeney M. H., Ward E. Proportionate mortality among unionized construction ironworkers. Am J Ind Med. 1997 Feb;31(2):176–187. doi: 10.1002/(sici)1097-0274(199702)31:2<176::aid-ajim7>3.0.co;2-y. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  23. Sun J., Kubota H., Hisanaga N., Shibata E., Kamijima M., Nakamura K. Mortality among Japanese construction workers in Mie Prefecture. Occup Environ Med. 2002 Aug;59(8):512–516. doi: 10.1136/oem.59.8.512. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  24. Sun J., Shibata E., Hisanaga N., Kamijima M., Ichihara G., Huang J., Toida M., Takeuchi Y. A cohort mortality study of construction workers. Am J Ind Med. 1997 Jul;32(1):35–41. doi: 10.1002/(sici)1097-0274(199707)32:1<35::aid-ajim5>3.0.co;2-q. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  25. Wang E., Dement J. M., Lipscomb H. Mortality among North Carolina construction workers, 1988-1994. Appl Occup Environ Hyg. 1999 Jan;14(1):45–58. doi: 10.1080/104732299303412. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  26. Ward E. M., Burnett C. A., Ruder A., Davis-King K. Industries and cancer. Cancer Causes Control. 1997 May;8(3):356–370. doi: 10.1023/a:1018405321141. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Occupational and Environmental Medicine are provided here courtesy of BMJ Publishing Group

RESOURCES