Construction industry accidents in Spain

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Abstract

Problem

This paper analyzed industrial accidents that take place on construction sites and their severity. Method: Eighteen variables were studied. We analyzed the influence of each of these with respect to the severity and fatality of the accident. This descriptive analysis was grounded in 1,630,452 accidents, representing the total number of accidents suffered by workers in the construction sector in Spain over the period 1990-2000. Results: It was shown that age, type of contract, time of accident, length of service in the company, company size, day of the week, and the remainder of the variables under analysis influenced the seriousness of the accident. Impact on injury prevention: The results obtained show that different training was needed, depending on the severity of accidents, for different age, length of service in the company, organization of work, and time when workers work. Impact on industry: The research provides an insight to the likely causes of construction injuries in Spain. As a result of the analysis, industries and governmental agencies in Spain can start to provide appropriate strategies and training to the construction workers.

Introduction

Industrial safety has experienced significant changes over the last decade. However, the construction sector is notable as it continues to register the highest casualty rates. In Table 1, we see that the sector has the highest Fatal Accident Rates per 100,000 workers, both in the United States and in Spain (National Safety Council [NSC], 2004, Instituto Nacional de Seguridad e Higiene en el Trabajo [INSHT], 2004). Spain has some of the highest accident rates of the European Union, although fatal accidents in the construction industry in Spain have decreased in the last 10 years (Sesé et al., 2002).

This situation has stimulated various studies and investigations into the casualty rates of the construction sector in different countries throughout the world. Thus, projects of this type have been carried out in countries as far away and as different as India (Ji, Lalwani, & Dogra, 2005), Australia (Larsson and Field, 2002, Ore, 1992, Ore and Stout, 1996), Portugal (Macedo & Silva, 2005), Turkey (Colak, Etiler, & Bicer, 2004), and Kuwait (Nabil & Rami, 1998), in addition to the extensive literature published in the United States and the United Kingdom. These and other research studies highlight the existence of variables that have an influence on the high casualty rates of the construction sector.

Different authors have researched the influence of specific variables on the severity of the industrial injuries incurred. Thus, for example, Salminen (2004) addressed age, showing that young workers register higher incident rates and lower fatal accident rates. For their part, Chau et al. (2004) concluded that young workers have a higher likelihood of being struck with objects and hand tools, or falling at the same level, but the number of sick days is lower than that experienced by older workers. Recently, after analyzing 136,000 construction worker injuries, Hinze, Devenport, and Giang (2006) showed that injury rates on knees and shoulders were higher for workers over 35 years old, while lacerations stood out among those under 35 years old. Layana and Gost (2004) show a quadratic relationship between worker age and the risk of multiple injuries.

This background has prompted us to determine the influence of a set of variables on accident rates in the construction sector and more concretely, on the severity of those accidents. These variables have been categorized into five groups that are explained in this article: (a) personal, (b) business, (c) material, (d) temporal, and (e) spatial or geographic.

In addition, a group of informational variables are included that comprise aspects pertaining either to the number of days on sick leave as a result of the injury or to the cost of the accident. This cost was calculated by multiplying the daily rate of sickness benefit by the number of days on sick leave.

This present study assesses the relationship between all the previously mentioned variables and the seriousness of the accident. By doing so, it is hoped to gain greater familiarity with the accidents suffered by construction workers in order to design measures and strategies that are able to reduce accident rates in the sector and to determine the priority of such measures.

Section snippets

Data Collection

In Spain, the National Institute of Safety and Hygiene at Work (INSHT; Instituto Nacional de Seguridad e Higiene en el Trabajo) must be notified of all accidents that result in an absence from work of one or more days. Furthermore, taking into account that the daily rate of sickness benefit paid to a worker is considerably higher when it is due to an accident at work, we can assume that the notification of accidents in Spain is close to 100%.

As a result, we may be sure that practically all of

Personal Variables

Table 2 tells us that as the age of the worker involved in the accident increases, the probability that the accident will be serious increases.

On the other hand, differences in the incidence and the severity of accidents between men and women have always occurred in the construction sector. In the United States, the fatal accident rate in the construction sector per 100,000 (male) workers during the period 1980-1992 was 17.29; however it was lower for women at 1.80 (Ore, 1998), even though this

Conclusion

Our study has confirmed that the severity of accidents is related to the age of the person involved in the accident, the type of contract, the material agent, the hour of the day, and with the geographic region where the accident took place. That is, the severity of an accident will depend on the values of personal, business, material, temporal, and geographic variables.

Thus, the most important conclusions can be summarized as follows:

  • Accidents suffered by men, as opposed to those by women, are

Miguel A. Camino López has a Ph.D. in Construction accidents from Burgos University (Spain). He is Professor of safety issues in construction industry in Burgos University and had collaborated with Argentina and French Institutes in the influence of organization at work in accidents occurrence. He is now working in Labor risk prevention in construction industry and the influence of alcohol and drug consumption in accident occurrence.

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Miguel A. Camino López has a Ph.D. in Construction accidents from Burgos University (Spain). He is Professor of safety issues in construction industry in Burgos University and had collaborated with Argentina and French Institutes in the influence of organization at work in accidents occurrence. He is now working in Labor risk prevention in construction industry and the influence of alcohol and drug consumption in accident occurrence.

Dale O. Ritzel has a Ph.D. in health and safety from Southern Illinois University Carbondale. He is Professor/Director Emeritus of the Safety Center and Health Education at the university. He has been active in the National Safety Council and various state and national traffic safety organizations. Some of his recent projects include occupational safety and health issues in Spain and environmental health issues in Germany, in addition to traffic safety issues in the USA.

Ignacio Fontaneda has a Ph.D. in Working Conditions from Burgos University (Spain). He is Professor of Business Management for Industrial Engineering in Burgos University and has been working on the relation between quality management and safety management. He is now focusing his research in the integration of quality and safety management with social responsibility and time management.

Óscar J. González Alcántara received his BS and Ph.D. degrees in Industrial Engineering from the University of Navarra in 1997 and 2000, respectively. Since 2004, he has been with the Area of Business Organization, University of Burgos, where he now works as Professor of Production Management, and research and development scientist. His research interests include Quality Management, Labor risk prevention, and Corporate Social Responsibility.

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