Causes of building construction related accident in the south-western states of Nigeria

Abstract

Within the focus of the final outcome of any construction activity is the realisation of minimal cost, timely delivery and quality oriented structure. Nevertheless, above all is the safe execution of the construction site activities, which is a matter of life, most especially lives of the operatives. The study focuses on the identification of the common types of accident, the level of occurrences, as well as the causes of the identified accidents. Through an extensive literature review, eighteen (18) different types of accident were identified, which were subsequently classified into seven (7) categories. Moreover, well-structured questionnaires were administered to construction participants, with the data analysed descriptively. The outcome revealed the four categories of frequently occurring accidents to be: contact with working tools, vehicle-related, slip and trip, and falls. Some crucial inclusions in the list of causes are failure of edge protection, safety standard violations, overloading of scaffold and crane, wrong placement of ladder, loss of control over body movement, failure in the designs, absence of warning signs, over speeding of vehicle, wrong selection of working tools, non-usage of personal protective equipment, improperly installed equipment, horseplay, and poor housekeeping. However, by exploring the accident process, recommendations based on the findings are put up.

Causes of Accident at Construction Sites in Bangladesh

“…The relative important index (RII) is used for the determination of the rank between the 77 causes. Many studies used this method to rank and prioritize the variables (Ahmed et al 2018a;Chiang et al 2017;Enshassi et al 2009;Williams et al 2019;Winge and Albrechtsen 2018). This study has also chosen the same method to determine the ranks of causes.…”

“…Owners must have the willingness to sanction safety-related cost. Scarcity in safety-related cost has a great influence on construction accidents, and this cause is common in many countries, especially in developing and underdeveloped one (Tam et al 2004;Williams et al 2019;Yiu et al 2018). Workers are the primary victims of the construction accidents, and they are in physical contact with accidents than any other project participants in construction.…”

“…Rest of the top ten low-ranking causes (70th, 69th and 68th ranking causes) are coordination between project participants (RII = 0.534), lack of skill and experience of site staff (RII = 0.536) and lack of knowledge and experience of consultants (RII = 0.540). Coordination between project participants is identified as a low-ranking cause, but many researchers found it as a high-ranking cause and that it has a great impact on the construction accidents (Toole 2005;Williams et al 2019). Beriha et al (2012) stated that by improving skills and experiences of site staffs, construction accidents could be eliminated from the construction sites significantly.…”

“…The externalrelated major group is ranked in tenth for contractors and workers, fourteenth for consultants, seventh for owners and tenth for all respondents in Table 8. Act of God, nature of construction and bad weather are pointed out in many studies in the same context but not considered as high-ranking causes (Raheem and Issa 2016;Williams et al 2019;Yu et al 2014;Zhou 2015). The respondents are quite free from the liability of these causes but have to be careful about this group to design an effective safety policy.…”

Relationship between Medium and Large Grade Contractors on Implementing Safety Management in Construction Site

“…The most successful construction project is focusing the outcome of any construction activity in the realization of minimal cost, timely delivery and quality-oriented structure [17]. In addition, the construction companies also have recognized the important of safety management and have developed an effective company safety program that includes new employee orientation, safety training, projectspecific accident prevention plans and job site surveillance.…”