The improvement of safety and health in the construction industry remains a major global concern as it is one of the most hazardous industries to work in and at the same time a worldwide leading employer for both skilled and unskilled workers. Every five minutes a construction worker dies somewhere around the world [1], representing a massive loss of human lives due to the dangers inherent in construction work and the management hereof. Further, let alone for Europe, around 30 000 construction workers get so severely disabled every year that they can no longer work [2].
Even though it is widely recognised that a large number of the deaths and injuries in the construction industry are entirely preventable, a recent Cochrane review of intervention studies among construction workers shows that it has proved difficult to find effective and evidence-based ways to combat fatal and non-fatal injuries [3, 4]. This also holds true for intervention studies aimed at preventing construction workers´ large share (55%) of musculoskeletal disorders which consequently lead to non-fatal injuries in the USA [5]. Typically, construction projects are such complex hazardous systems and ever-changing in terms of task at hand, workforce and workplace condition that it makes it problematic for researchers to intervene with randomised controlled studies [6]. Yet there is an immense need for methodologically well-founded intervention research that can help reducing hazards and risks among construction workers.
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