Got a question about how to make construction work safer? Theres a new web site that will give you answers: www.elcosh.org. This one-stop resource provides information about how to protect against construction workplace hazards like asbestos, and theres information especially for electrical workers. You can also link to other sites on construction safety and health.

The Electronic Library of Construction Occupational Safety and Health (eLCOSH) provides information from a wide range of sources in English, Spanish and other languages for anyone interested in improving safety and health on the job for construction workers.

For workers, the web site provides hazard alert pocket cards on 20 subjects and brochures on such topics as silica and contact dermatitis. There are also short articles about injury/illness prevention. Foremen and safety managers can check out toolbox talks, safety checklists, best practice guidelines and government standards. The site also maintains a list of major upcoming meetings on construction safety and health.

At the eLCOSH web site you can, for example, get details on what some construction contractors are doing on site safety planning, on foreign regulations requiring labor-management safety and health committees, on medical guidelines for respirator use, or on carbon monoxide hazards to construction workers.

The web site is easy to use. For instance, on the main menu click on the word trade. Then click on electrical worker. You will see a list of articles of interest. Click on any article youd like to read. Or, from the main menu click on hazard. Then click on chemical. Youll see a heading for asbestos. To search for articles on a topic you choose, at the top of the page click on Search and type in the word or words you want to look for. You can print out the materials. If you are not hooked up to the Internet at home, your public library can show you how to use their computers to get to the eLCOSH web site.

The eLCOSH project is coordinated by the Center to Protect Workers Rights, the research and development institute of the Building & Construction Trades Department, AFL-CIO. Funding is provided by a grant from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, part of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

eLCOSH: A New Web Site on Construction Safety and Health
July 19, 2001

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