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Construction FACE Database

Guide – FACE Database Overview

The Construction FACE Database (CFD) is a database in Excel created by CPWR - The Center for Construction Research and Training to facilitate the use of information provided by the NIOSH Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation (FACE) Reports for  users who want to analyze FACE reports using a statistical package. If you have any questions or need assistance with the CFD, please email Beki Jackson at rjackson@cpwr.com.

Background and How to Use the CFD

NIOSH has conducted investigations of selected fatal occupational injuries through the FACE program since 1982. The investigation results presented through FACE reports include important information on the circumstances surrounding work-related fatalities, such as Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) use, safety training, and recommendations from the FACE investigators that are crucial for injury prevention, but may not be available in other information sources. The CFD contains data from both NIOSH and State FACE reports about construction fatalities (total of 768 deaths) posted to the NIOSH FACE website as of June 30, 2015. For more information about the database, please refer to the article, “The construction FACE database—Codifying the NIOSH FACE reports” (Dong XS, Largay JA, Wang X, Cain CT, Romano N. The construction FACE database - Codifying the NIOSH FACE reports. J Safety Res. 2017 Sep;62:217-225).

The CFD variables categorize information on decedents, their employers, type of injury, environment, safety equipment, safety programs, training, recommendations, and other factors surrounding the injury occurrence. Most of the CFD variables are coded according to the existing classification systems (such as by occupation, industry, injury, etc.) except for FACE recommendations. To categorize these recommendations, a two-digit classification system has been developed. The first digit designates the main categories such as:

1 – Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)

2 – Equipment

3 – Training

4 – Organizational

5 – Violations

The second digit classifies more specific recommendations within each of the major categories, for example:

14 – Provide Functional Personal Fall Arrest System (PFAS)

15 – Inspect PFAS for functionality

21 – Provide proper equipment for task

22 – Inspect equipment for functionality

34 – Provide training in a language the employee can understand

35 – Train local emergency medical services on worksite safety

42 – Conduct Job Safety/Hazard Analysis

48 – Enforce safety requirements of subcontractors

(See the codebook for more details)

For ease of use, the following materials are free for users to download: