A preliminary investigation into the potential of construction project features to influence accident occurrence

Manu, Patrick; Proverbs, David; Suresh, Subashini; Manu, Emmanuel; Ahadzie, D. K.

Abstract

The UK Construction industry has persistently been associated with unwanted ‘costs’ in the form of deaths, injuries, and ill-health. Previous studies in trying to address the health and safety (H&S) performance have highlighted the need to pay attention to originating accident causal factors. Construction project features (CPFs) being organisational, physical and operational attributes of construction projects fall in this category of originating factors. However, despite the established significance of originating factors to accident causation, not much by way of research has focused on these features in terms of assessing their potential to influence accident occurrence. As such knowledge is important in helping to prevent accidents, this study attempts to shed light on this grey area. As part of a wider investigation, the findings of a pilot survey are presented which examines the potential of CPFs to influence accident occurrence through the perceptions of construction professionals (construction managers, health and safety managers, and directors). The results indicate that CPFs are perceived as having a low, moderate or a high potential to influence accident occurrence. Using regression analysis, the study also reveals that the potential of CPFs to influence accident occurrence is positively and significantly related to the extent to which certain H&S issues associated with CPFs (termed proximal accident causes) are common/prevalent within CPFs. This suggests that the potential of CPFs to influence accident occurrence can be mitigated by implementing H&S measures which reduce the prevalence of proximal factors within CPFs. Although these findings are not conclusive, given the limited scope of the survey, they provide a preliminary insight into the potential of CPFs to influence accident occurrence which could be useful in pre-construction decision-making and H&S planning.

• Presentation Conference Type: Conference Paper (unpublished)
• Conference Name: 1st international conference on infrastructure development in Africa (ICIDA) 2012
• Start Date: Mar 22, 2012
• End Date: Mar 24, 2012
• Publication Date: Mar 22, 2012
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Keywords: accident causation, construction project features, health and safety
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/948805
• Publisher URL: http://www.icida.knust.edu.gh/pages/index.php?siteid=icida
• Additional Information: Title of Conference or Conference Proceedings : 1st international conference on infrastructure development in Africa (ICIDA) 2012