Cell Phone Ownership and Cellular Text/Email Capabilities Among Temporary and Payroll Construction Workers

• Published in: Frontiers in public health Vol. 8; p. 42
• Main Authors: Caban-Martinez, Alberto J, Moore, Kevin J, Chalmers, Juanita J, Santiago, Katerina M, Baniak, Melissa, Jordan, Melissa M
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland Frontiers Media S.A 12.03.2020
• Subjects: Cell Phone; cell phones; construction; construction workers; Cross-Sectional Studies; Electronic Mail; Florida; Humans; Ownership; Pilot Projects; Public Health; technology; temporary workers; Text Messaging; United States; vulnerable worker population; Florida; United States; temporary workers; construction; construction workers; technology; vulnerable worker population; cell phones
• ISSN: 2296-2565; 2296-2565
• DOI: 10.3389/fpubh.2020.00042

With high rates of temporary workers and a transient worker population, the U.S. construction workforce presents a challenge for long-term research and outreach activities. Increasing availability of affordable cell phone technologies may provide an opportunity for research follow-up among construction workers once they leave the worksite. Using pilot study survey data we characterize and examine the association of cell phone technology ownership and cellular text/email services among a non-probabilistic sample of payroll and temporary construction workers. A cross-sectional study design was used to administer a one-time paper-based anonymous survey to construction workers working at construction sites in Florida, USA. The survey featured questions on sociodemographic characteristics, occupational history, cell phone technology ownership, and cellular text/email services capabilities. Among the 223 construction worker survey respondents, 31.4% identified as temporary workers and 68.6% were on payroll and 87.4% owned a cell phone. Construction workers who own a cell phone had greater than a high school education (28.9% vs. 25.0%; = 0.019), made >$30,000/year (27.1% vs. 14.8%; = 0.011), had same cell phone number for >1 year (74.4% vs. 40.7%; = 0.001), and were employed as a payroll worker (71.0% vs. 50.0%; = 0.037). Temporary construction workers compared to their payroll counterparts were significantly less likely to have email services on their cell phone [unadjusted-odds ratio 0.41 (95% CI: 0.17-0.97)]. Cell phone ownership and smartphone-enabled technologies such as email/texting capabilities are higher among payroll than temporary construction workers. Further research on frequency of cell phone use and types of email/texting services used by construction workers are needed.