When it comes to women’s PPE and tradeswomen's concerns, what’s old is new, and what’s “new” is all too familiar… While compiling information for Women in Construction Week in March, statements and data from 1999 began to blur with information gathered for the ASSP/ISEA Z590.6 Technical Report on Guidance for the Fit and Selection of Personal Protective Equipment and Apparel Available for Women. 

Test your knowledge: Are these statements from 1999 or the 2020s? (answers at the end of the post)

1. A report titled “Women in the Construction Workplace: Providing Equitable Safety and Health Protection” was released by OSHA.
2. “The construction industry as a whole is facing a nationwide crisis with respect to the availability of qualified labor.” 
3. “With the demand for labor outstripping supply, construction employers need to expand their recruitment efforts to previously untapped labor sources, including women. Thus, they need to ensure that the work environment is ‘women-friendly.’”
4. Women make up 2.3% of workers in the construction trades. 
5. Women make up 10.9% of the construction workforce. 
6. The gender pay gap is significantly smaller in construction occupations, with women earning on average 95.5 percent of what men make. 
7. 80% of tradeswomen have encountered worksites with dirty toilets or no toilets 

If any of the answers surprised you, (re)visit some data sources related to women in construction and the reality they faced in 1999 and now. The final Z590.6 report will put this data and more into one source very soon. 

Women in the Construction Workplace: Providing Equitable Safety and Health Protection, from the Health and Safety of Women in Construction (HASWIC) workgroup. 

https://www.osha.gov/advisorycommittee/accsh/products/1999-06-01

NAWIC Statistics

https://www.nawic.org/statistics 

NIOSH Women’s Safety and Health Issues at Work 

https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/docs/2001-123/default.html 

Abby is a practical, creative, innovative and influential safety and risk management professional.
She currently serves as the Chief Risk Officer at Insurate.

Answers:

1. 1999
2. 1999
3. 1999
4. 1999
5. 2022
6. 2021
7. 1999