Fatal Construction Accidents in Hong Kong
Publication: Journal of Construction Engineering and Management
Volume 144, Issue 3
Abstract
The construction industry is infamous for its dismal safety records. In Hong Kong, the ratio of fatal accidents per thousand workers increases with the gross value of work performed per worker for a 21-year period between 1995 and 2015. There were more deaths when workers worked more. There has not been any significant drop in construction fatalities. This paper offers a comprehensive analysis of the fatal accidents, including when and how they occurred. Contextual data of fatal incidents in the construction industry of Hong Kong from 2006 to 2015 were collected from local news. The majority of victims were workers aged 45 and above, reflecting acute problems of labor aging and skilled labor shortages, which are issues not only in Hong Kong but throughout the world. Not unexpectedly, most workers died in the hot humid days in summer after working for 2 h in the morning or 1 h after a lunch break. Principal component analysis (PCA) and cluster analysis suggest that more fatal accidents occurred in repair, maintenance, alteration, and addition (RMAA) works from the private sector. Hence, safety governance should be more focused on this particular sector. This is the first study to explore the overall fatalities in Hong Kong construction trades with a focus on the analysis of the relationships between the recorded variables. The findings for Hong Kong provide insight for future research on solutions to reduce accidents in the construction industry around the world.
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Data Availability Statement
Data generated or analyzed during the study are available from the corresponding author by request. Information about the Journal’s data sharing policy can be found here: http://ascelibrary.org/doi/10.1061/%28ASCE%29CO.1943-7862.0001263.
Acknowledgments
This publication was made possible by a research funding from the Research Grants Council, Hong Kong (Project Number PolyU 152176/15E). Its contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not represent the official views of the Research Grants Council.
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Published In
Journal of Construction Engineering and Management
Volume 144 • Issue 3 • March 2018
Copyright
©2017 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Mar 21, 2017
Accepted: Aug 7, 2017
Published online: Dec 29, 2017
Published in print: Mar 1, 2018
Discussion open until: May 29, 2018
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