Causes of Accident in Building Construction Site
CHAPTER ONE
Research Objectives
This research aims to improving the level of safety at the work areas in Lagos state, especially at the high workplaces to prevent the accidents. The aim of this research divided into the following objectives:
- To determine the factors of causes and prevention for accidents in construction industry.
- Rank of the most common causes and prevention for accidents in the construction industry regarding the nature of respondent involved.
- To test the relationship between the groups of causes and the prevention in the construction
- To introduce a quantified model to test the effect of causes on the prevention for accidents
- To suggest recommendations to minimize the causes and enhance the prevention for accidents
CHAPTER TWO
LITERATURE REVIEW
Introduction
The literature on several current, more recent, and older theories of accident causation is reviewed in this chapter. As part of the endeavor to determine where the causal elements manifest in terms of the project management lifecycle model and its success in avoiding an accident from occurring, it also aims to pinpoint what researchers contend causes accidents.
The Construction Industry’s Safety History
According to the literature, safety concerns were not prioritized until the US Supreme Court heard arguments on workers compensation statutes in the early 1900s. According to Petersen (1971), cited by Alaqqad (2009), management made the decision to stop injuries in the 1900s after discovering that they had to pay for workplace injuries in accordance with the law. The choice made by the global business community gave rise to organized unions for workplace safety. The William-Steiger Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHAct), which was approved by Congress and US President Richard Nixon in December 1970, went into effect on April 28, 1971.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) standards for the construction industry are one example of how national and international organizations are starting to produce safety regulations and standards that are recognized by the sector. US Department of Energy safety standards and the 1990-founded US Army Corps of Engineers Safety National Institute for Occupational Health and Safety (Kartam et al., 2000).
Construction accident rates, which are supported by the greatest casualty rates in numerous nations brought on by construction, are undoubtedly one of the international causes for concern (Camino et al., 2008).
Accidents in building projects are a significant problem that must be addressed in a number of nations. The phenomenon has given the building business a bad reputation as a place where accidents are likely to happen (Sawacha et al., 1999; Shi, 2009).
The open space, uniqueness, use of numerous unskilled laborers, exposure to the elements, worker turnover, working at heights, confined spaces, strict schedule of short project duration, and physically and psychologically vulnerable working environment that express the nature of construction project, the construction project has more potential hazards of accidents (Chi et al., 2004; Lipscomb et al., 2006; Imriyas et al., 2007).
CHAPTER THREE
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Introduction
This chapter discusses the methodology that is used in this research. The adopted methodology to accomplish this research uses the following techniques: the information about the research strategy and design, research population and sample, questionnaire design, the process of data collection, statistical data analysis, content validity and pilot research are also summarized.
Research Design
A quantitative approach was adopted as the researcher needed to explore how the causes of accidents in Nigeria. A questionnaire was used to collect data and it was administered to 100 stakeholders in the Nigerian construction industry and selected using simple random sampling. The profile of respondents is shown in Table 1. The respondents included a Project manager (1%), Engineers (19%), Supervisors (7%), Health & Safety officers (31%), Labourers (21%) and others (21%): 96% of these were from contractors’ organisations while 4% worked for clients.
CHAPTER FOUR
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Chapter 4 make known to the outcomes and the discussion of the results. This chapter separated into two sections. The first related to Engineers, and other to Workers, each section presents (personal information, factors affecting the causes of accident, factors affecting the prevention of accident, test of hypotheses).
CHAPTER FIVE
CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
5.1 Introduction
- Summaryof the research
Throughout the methodology approached in previous chapters, the following results came up with specific conclusions regarding accident causes and prevention in the construction industry in Lagos state. The questionnaire was distributed to two target groups, engineers and workers. The questionnaire includes factors affecting accident causes and prevention in the construction industry, were synthesized in the main two parts in the survey, which were shown to be reliable. Part one factors related to the causes of accidents in the construction industry, distributed to four mean groups as factors related to the occupational safety and health, economic, social, working environment. While part two factors related to the prevention of accidents in the construction industry, distributed to three mean groups as factors related to the top management, work performed, economic, workers.
The study findings of RII test for causes fields was ranked that “factors related to the working environment”, “factors related to the economic”, “factors related to the occupational safety and health” and “factors related to the social” respectively In other hands the most common causes and prevention for accident are:
- From engineering point of view:A- The most common causes are:
- Contractors neglect implementing the safety
- Lack of safety climate and occupational safety and
- Execute the works without fall prevention safety
- Working on heights without fencing. (RII = 40%)
- No existence of safety and health Forman in the crew.
- Choosing unskilled workers to work in the heights.B- The most common preventions are:
- Fromworker point of view: A- The most common causes are:
- Working on heights without fencing.
- Non-holding special training for workers on falls prevention.
- Absence the training program for workers on the occupational safety and
- Choosing unskilled workers to work on
- Execute the works without fall prevention safety
- Weak using modern equipment in construction projects.B- The most common preventions are:
- Fencing the work area and especially the
- Working at night with adequate lighting.
- Respondance of the company to the workers view on protection requirements required in
Outcomes related to objective three
The objective was: To research the relationship between the groups of causes and the prevention in the construction industry.
The study findings that there is a significant relationship at the level of significance a=0.05 , between the causes of accidents (occupational safety and health, the economic, the social and the working environment) and the prevention in the construction industry form view of engineering and workers. This result agreed the second hypotheses.
- Outcomes related to objective four
The objective was: To introduce a quantified model to test the effect of causes on the prevention for accidents.
According to engineering point of view; show that the social and the working environment groups had significant effect on the prevention (78.2%), and the social appears to be the strongest group. In addition, the occupational safety and health, the working environment and the economic groups had significant effect on the prevention (76.1%), and the working environment appears to be the strongest group from workers point of view. This result agreed the third hypotheses.
- Outcomes related to objective five
- The objective was: To suggest recommendations to minimize the causes and enhance the prevention for accidents.
The recommendation to minimize the causes and enhance the prevention of accidents are:
- Providing the safety equipment in the work site including safety built and
- Fencing the work area and especially the heights should be provided.
- Recruit the suitable workers to work on heights with age, weight, health and psychological status, and education and training
- Training in the occupational safety issues must be held for workers, especially heights
- The contractors shall implement all safety requirements within the workplace and providing safety
- Provide a safety engineer/foreman within the crew/team in construction work
- The works must stop in bad weather condition and at night without adequate
- Provide periodic maintenance of tools and
- The company might respond to the workers point of view on protection requirements required in
- Outcomes related to diagnoses of the accidents causes and prevention:
- 46%of engineering indicate that the training is sometimes held and this affects negatively and directly on safety performance in the construction projects. An approved training system for construction projects should be implemented to reduce and prevent falls.
- Also; safety professional supervisors are not available at any time; therefore, they must be
- In additional; confirms the absence of a statistical record of accidents, which affects the accumulation of experience and knowledge to prevent falling
There is no significant difference among respondents regard the accident causes and prevention in the construction industry due to personal information (position, years of experience, qualification, the number of projects in the last 5 years and age) form view of engineering and workers. This result agreed the first hypotheses.
- General recommendations of this study
The fall one of the most serious accidents in the construction industry and based on results of this research, the recommendations are:
- Ministry of labor should enact special legislations and laws for protection offalls which compel all parties to take all occupational safety measures in construction projects
- Safety Engineers should follow works policies in which stop works activities during bad weather situations and other risky working
- Ministry of public works must assert of a safety requirement in the project’s
- In Bidding phase, the bid award should not be for the lowest price, in addition, to consider the company accident record which it would adversely affect the safety performance of construction projects.
- Promote a culture of safety for stakeholders (owners, engineers, workers,…) and improve the safety environment that leads implement safety standards.
- Raising awareness of safety factors for construction workers through appropriate training programs and safety rules and
- Ensure the work environment such as lights, safety signs, personal protective equipment and fencing as far as available to protect the keep workers in
- Government agencies and stakeholders must warn and punish contractors and anyone in charge who do not comply with safety
- The engineer must choose skilled workers by indicating all the safety measurements and all safety standards that compel on the worker to reducing the
- The governmental agencies should consider the periodic inspections for construction
- The contractor must decrease the pressure on the worker by giving suitable rest hour and consider the working hours that specified by the law.
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