Read all about it: the role of the media in improving construction safety and health.

Around 1,000 construction workers are killed every year on the job in the United States, usually individual fatalities separated by time and distance. Although national news media may give front-page coverage or evening-news priority to the less frequent catastrophic incidents in which several workers die at one time, individual deaths typically do not receive high-visibility national news coverage. These deaths may be reported fleetingly as community news in local newspapers or broadcasts. Reporters are usually tasked to cover awide range of breaking news on short deadlines. Rarely, as a rule, do junior or general-assignment reporters have the luxury of choosing a specialized beat to follow or the time needed to become deeply familiar with sources, issues, and terminology in specialized areas. Senior reporters who may have more latitude are faced with a myriad of issues that compete for equal time in the public interest. Because of these factors, it may be argued that the true toll of work-related injury and death in construction, and the fact that these tragedies can be prevented, are not well recognized by the general public in day-to-day news coverage. This presents a challenge and an opportunity for safety and health professionals to (a) encourage news media to provide deeper, more sustained coverage of construction injury and death, and (b) offer data, insights, and expertise that will help reporters and editors to do so. This paper discusses the potential of traditional news media to improve construction safety and health by highlighting fundamental issues through in-depth reporting, as well as the role of internet-based and social media as a complement to traditional media.