Identifying Root Causes of Construction Accidents
This article has a reply.
VIEW THE REPLYPublication: Journal of Construction Engineering and Management
Volume 126, Issue 1
Abstract
Construction accident investigation techniques and reporting systems identify what type of accidents occur and how they occurred. Unfortunately, they do not properly address why the accident occurred by identifying possible root causes, which is only possible by complementing these techniques with theories of accident causation and theories of human error. The uniqueness of the construction industry dictates the need to tailor many of the contemporary accident causation models and human error theories. This paper presents an accident root causes tracing model (ARCTM) tailored to the needs of the construction industry. ARCTM proposes that accidents occur due to three root causes: (1) Failing to identify an unsafe condition that existed before an activity was started or that developed after an activity was started; (2) deciding to proceed with a work activity after the worker identifies an existing unsafe condition; and (3) deciding to act unsafe regardless of initial conditions of the work environment. In addition, ARCTM emphasizes the need to determine how unsafe conditions exist before or develop after an activity is started and proposes that these unsafe conditions are due to four causes: (1) Management actions/inactions; (2) unsafe acts of worker or coworker; (3) non-human-related event(s); (4) an unsafe condition that is a natural part of the initial construction site conditions. Thus, ARCTM acknowledges the possible contribution of both management and labor to the accident process. This perspective helps in better explaining accidents on construction sites and in identifying areas where prevention efforts should be directed, so that labor and management may provide more effective measures for preventing accident occurrence.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
References
1.
Accident prevention, a workers' education manual. (1983). International Labor Organization, Geneva.
2.
Accident facts. (1997). National Safety Council, Itasca, Ill.
3.
Adams, E. (1976). “Accident causation and the management system.” Profl. Safety, 22(10), 26–29.
4.
Bird, F. (1974). Management guide to loss control. Institute Press, Atlanta.
5.
Brown, I. D. ( 1995). “Accident reporting and analysis.” Evaluation of human work, J. R. Wilson, and E. N. Corlett, eds., Taylor & Francis, London.
6.
Chaffin, D. B., and Andersson, G. B. (1991). Occupational biomechanics. Wiley, New York.
7.
Cooper, K., and Volard, S. V. ( 1978). “The influence of the individual on industrial accidents.” Accident Prevention, Toronto, 15(5), 45–49.
8.
Culver, C., Florczak, G., Castell, R., Jr. Pelton, G., and Connolly, C. (1990). “Analysis of construction fatalities—The OSHA Data 1985–1988.” Rep., Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), U.S. Department of Labor, Washington, D.C.
9.
Culver, C., Marshall, M., and Connolly, C. (1992). “Construction accidents: The workers' compensation data base 1985–1988.” Rep., Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), U.S. Department of Labor, Washington, D.C.
10.
Davies, V. J., and Tomasin, K. (1990). Construction safety handbook. Thomas Telford, London.
11.
DeJoy, D. M. (1990). “Toward a comprehensive human factors model of workplace accident causation.” Profl. Safety, 35(5), 11–16.
12.
Douglas, H., and Crowe, J. (1976). Effective loss prevention. Industrial Accident Prevention Assoc., Toronto.
13.
Dwyer, T., and Raftery, A. E. (1991). “Industrial accidents are produced by social-relations of work—A sociological theory of industrial accidents.” Appl. Ergonomics, 22(3), 167–178.
14.
Friend, M. A., and Kohn, J. P. (1992). “A behavioral approach to accident prevention.” Occupational Hazards, 54(10), 113–115.
15.
Fullman, J. B. (1984). Construction safety, security, and loss prevention. Wiley, New York.
16.
Goldsmith, D. (1987). Safety management in construction and industry. McGraw-Hill, New York.
17.
Heath, E. D. (1991). “Identifying those worker populations that are at higher levels of risk.” Am. Industrial Hygiene Assn. J., 52(4), A211–A212.
18.
Heinrich, H. W. (1959). Industrial accident prevention. McGraw-Hill, New York.
19.
Heinrich, H. W., Peterson, D., and Roos, N. (1980). Industrial accident prevention. McGraw-Hill, New York.
20.
Helander, M. G. (1991). “Safety hazards and motivation for safe work in the construction industry.” Int. J. Industrial Ergonomics, London, 8(4), 205–223.
21.
Hinze, J. W. (1997). Construction safety. Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, N.J.
22.
Hoyos, C. G., and Zimolong, B. (1988). Occupational safety and accident prevention, behavioral strategies and methods. Elsevier, Amsterdam.
23.
Kerr, W. (1957). “Complementary theories of safety psychology.” J. Social Psychology, 45, 3–9.
24.
Klumb, P. L. (1995). “Cognitive failures and performance differences: Validation studies of a German version of the cognitive failures questionnaire.” Ergonomics, 38(7), 1456–1467.
25.
Krause, T. R., Hidley, J. H., and Lareau, W. (1984). “Behavioral science applied to accident prevention.” Profl. Safety, 29(7), 21–27.
26.
Krause, T. R., and Russell, L. R. (1994). “The behavior-based approach to proactive accident investigation.” Profl. Safety, 39(3), 22–28.
27.
La Bette, C. R. (1990). “Innovative procedures in construction safety.” Profl. Safety, 35(4), 35–39.
28.
MacCollum, D. V. (1990). “Time for change in construction safety.” Profl. Safety, 35(2), 17–20.
29.
McClay, R. E. (1989). “Toward a more universal model of loss incident causation—Part I.” Profl. Safety, 35(1), 15–20.
30.
McClay, R. E. (1989). “Toward a more universal model of loss incident causation—Part II.” Profl. Safety, 35(2), 34–39.
31.
Norman, D. A. (1981). “Categorization of action slips.” Psychological Rev., 88, 1–14.
32.
Petersen, D. (1971). Techniques of safety management. McGraw-Hill, New York.
33.
Petersen, D. (1975). Safety management—A human approach. Aloray, Englewood, N.J.
34.
Petersen, D. (1982). Human Error—Reduction and Safety Management. STPM Press, New York.
35.
Peyton, R. X., and Rubio, T. C. (1991). Construction safety practices and principles. Van Nostrand Reinhold, New York.
36.
Reason, J. T. (1990). Human error. Cambridge University Press, New York.
37.
Recht, J. (1970). Systems safety analysis: Error rates and costs. National Safety Council, Chicago.
38.
Rietze, R. B. (1990). “Proactive construction management.” Profl. Safety, 35(1), 14–16.
39.
Rigby, L. V. (1970). “The nature of human error.” Proc., Annu. Tech. Conf. Trans. of the Am. Soc. for Quality Control, 475–566.
40.
Rook, L., Altman, J., and Swain, A. ( 1966). Human error quantification. Sandia Corp., Albuqerque, N.M.
41.
Wagenaar, W. A., Hudson, P. T., and Reason, J. T. (1990). “Cognitive failures and accidents.” Appl. Cognitive Psychology, 4, 273– 294.
42.
Weaver, D. A. (1971). “Symptoms of operational error.” Profl. Safety, 17(10), 24–34.
43.
Zeller, D. B. (1986). “Heinrich revisited.” Profl. Safety, 31(10), 40–42.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
History
Received: Oct 27, 1998
Published online: Jan 1, 2000
Published in print: Jan 2000
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.