Occupational Risk Factors and Worker Health in the Construction Trades: A Comprehensive Assessment of Sleep Quality, Burnout, and Psychological Distress


Donia Saleh Mohammad Obeidat, University of Toronto

Occupational injuries and psychosocial challenges continue to impact worker health in the construction industry. Construction trades workers engage in physically and mentally demanding work while managing exposures to physical, environmental, organizational, and psychosocial hazards. While previous research, including our own, has identified these occupational hazards there remains a gap in understanding the impact of individual occupational risk factors across diverse trades workers, including apprentices, electricians, and trades contractors. In this study, we used stratified and gender-based analyses to characterize sleep quality, personal and work-related burnout, and psychological distress on trades worker health and wellbeing. A cross-sectional survey was administered to 21 contractors, 30 apprentices, and 50 electricians employed by non-unionized small-to-medium-sized trades employers. The survey incorporated validated questionnaires including Psychological Distress Scale (K-10), Copenhagen Burnout Inventory (CBI), and Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), alongside questions regarding access to social support, and sociodemographic data. Descriptive and inferential statistical analyses were performed using R version 4.2.3. There were no significant differences in sleep quality, however contractors reported the lowest sleep duration at 5.8 hours/day. No differences in accessing of social support or experiencing work and personal-related burnout. Apprentices reporting higher psychologically distressed than electricians and contractors ( p < 0.05) seeking support more often from family and friends than co-workers. No gender-based differences in sleep quality, burnout, access to social support, and psychological distress were identified due to a small sample size of women included in the study. These findings suggest that construction trades workers would benefit from workplace mental health interventions to support psychological wellbeing at work. Further education to improve mental health literacy is critical to support apprentices as they enter the industry and manage diverse psychosocial exposures at work.

Non-presenting authors: Yiyan Li, University of Toronto; Behdin Nowrouzi-Kia, University of Toronto; Aaron Howe, University of Toronto; Ali Bani-Fatemi, University of Toronto

This paper will be presented at the following session: