Are plumbing apprentice graduates safer than their non-apprentice peers? Workers’ compensation claims among journey level plumbers by apprenticeship participation

Posted by National Alliance for Fair Contracting on

Journal of Safety Research
Volume 83, December 2022, Pages 349-356

Abstract
Introduction: Apprenticeships combine mentored on-the-job training with related instruction to develop a workforce with the skills sought by employers. Workplace safety is an important component of apprenticeship training. Whether that training results in fewer work injuries, however, is largely unknown. Method: We linked Washington’s registered apprenticeship data, plumber certification (licensing) data, employment data, and workers’ compensation claims to compare claim rates among journey level plumbers (JLP) by apprenticeship participation. We used negative binomial regression models to estimate rates of total claims, wage replacement/disability claims, acute injuries, and musculoskeletal disorders (MSD), adjusted for worker characteristics. Results: Among JLP certified between 2000 and 2018, rates among JLP with no apprenticeship training were 46% higher for total workers’ compensation claims (adjusted Rate Ratio (aRR) = 1.46, 95% CI: 1.26–1.69) and 60% higher for wage replacement/disability claims (aRR = 1.60, 95% CI: 1.22–2.11), compared to rates among JLP who completed a plumbing apprenticeship. Apprentice graduates experienced a greater decline in the rate of total claims between the 5 years preceding JLP certification and the years after certification (55.3% vs. 41.4% among JLP with no apprenticeship training). Greater rate reductions among JLP apprentice graduates were also observed for acute injuries and MSD, although the decline in MSD was not significantly different from the decline among JLP with no apprenticeship training. Conclusions: Successful completion of a plumbing apprenticeship program is associated with fewer work injuries throughout the career of a JLP. Apprenticeships appear to play a key role in reducing work injuries among JLP, especially acute injuries. Practical Applications: Apprenticeships are an effective model for reducing workplace injuries. The mechanisms by which apprenticeship training improves workplace safety should be identified to better inform injury prevention efforts among apprentices as well as among workers outside of a formal apprenticeship arrangement.

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Sean McGarvey column: Don’t leave construction workers in regulatory limbo

Posted by National Alliance for Fair Contracting on

Bloomberg Law
Nov. 12, 2019

The union construction industry plays a critical role in the American economy, representing not only viable middle-class career opportunities with labor protections, benefits and economic security for American workers and their families. It also provides debt-free registered apprenticeship education for the highest-skilled trade workforce to build and maintain the country’s infrastructure.

North America’s Building Trades Unions (NABTU) bring these pieces together and are thriving. In 2018 alone, our unions gained more than 70,000 active new members, with a net gain of 375,000 active members since the last recession.

Today, large energy infrastructure projects are vital to sustainable job growth for our members and, by extension, our industry partners. These relationships help promote economic development and public safety in communities across the United States. But what happens when these opportunities are threatened by politics and outside special interests? That’s exactly the situation our nation’s critical energy infrastructure, and particularly pipelines, are in.

A prime example is the Atlantic Coast Pipeline (ACP) – a 600-mile natural gas pipeline that was bringing jobs, local tax income and, above all, economic opportunity for rural communities surrounding the project that otherwise have few job creation options.

Earlier this year, NABTU and other unions involved in the project swiftly lost around 4,500 jobs after construction on the ACP came to a halt due to a decision by the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals questioning the pipeline’s crossing of the Appalachian Trail. The court vacated a decision from the U.S. Forest Service that would allow the pipeline to safely cross hundreds of feet beneath the Appalachian Trail. This decision came after the project already passed through an extensive, four-year environmental review dating back to the Obama Administration. In fact, the ACP already granted necessary rights-of-way by the Department of Interior and the Department of Agriculture. Additionally, more than 50 pipelines are built and operating across the Appalachian Trail for decades now.

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