Supervision is key to implementing new workplace programs. Most supervisors in construction are promoted due to technical knowledge, not supervisor skills, and they have little or no education or training in such skills. This is particuarly concerning in the case of up-from-the-ranks promotion of Latinos who typically have very limited education. This project promises to bring proven supervisor interaction skills training to construction supervisors in both English and Spanish. We will teach proven basic interaction skills and the application of those skills to change worker behavior in construction, where the application of those skills is untested. In addition, we will provide a technology that allows the supervisors to record or track their interactions with their employees and the degree to which they reinforce appropriate behaviors (e.g., healthy break snack choices, safe work practices) and correct inappropriate ones (e.g., short warm-ups, unsafe behaviors). Supervisors will be asked to reinforce specific safe and healthy work practices (health protection) and healthier lifestyle behaviors such as, healthy dietary practices (health promotion) of their choosing in thei employees. For lifestyle changes, workers will be encouraged to develop teams to learn new information and supervisors will encourage healthy behaviors. Incentives will be provided for employees to meet goals and for supervisors to participate in the project. In order to evaluate the effectiveness of the translation from classroom training to workplace application, a randomized trial design will be employed.
Showing the most recent 10 out of 16 publications
