Costs of Accidents and Injuries to the Construction Industry

A method to estimate occupational health and safety costs in construction projects

“…doc 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 Various authors highlight the important economic losses generated by accidents at the construction work site (Helander, 1980;Everett and Frank, 1996;Rubio et al, 2005;Waehrer et al, 2007). Evidently, if employers had a tool that allowed them to calculate aprioristically the occupation health and safety costs during the design phase of a construction project, they could try to reduce these costs later at the construction site by improving procedures and increasing the quantity and quality of accident prevention measures.…”

“…Miller and Galbraith (1995) presented five cost categories, usually used in the US national accounting system: medical and emergency services; wage and household work-lost wages, fringe benefits, housework, and other household services; administrative and legal costs-costs of accident investigation and litigation; workplace disruption-overtime pay, loss of special skills, and productivity losses by supervisors and colleagues, and recruitment and training costs; and quality of life. Everett and Frank (1996) divided the cost of occupational accidents in the former two categories; they considered the insurance as the direct cost, including the worker's compensation, the public liability, and the property insurance, whereas indirect costs embraced the same as in Levitt et al (1981). Everett and Frank (1996) compared their method with Levitt et al's (1981), obtaining that the cost of accidents had increased to 7.9% of the total construction costs.…”

“…Everett and Frank (1996) divided the cost of occupational accidents in the former two categories; they considered the insurance as the direct cost, including the worker's compensation, the public liability, and the property insurance, whereas indirect costs embraced the same as in Levitt et al (1981). Everett and Frank (1996) compared their method with Levitt et al's (1981), obtaining that the cost of accidents had increased to 7.9% of the total construction costs. The research of Waehrer et al (2007) was summarized in a cost model that comprised direct and indirect costs, plus the estimate of the quality of life costs due to the injury, as presented previously by Miller and Galbraith (1995).…”

“…Apart from loss of life, injury, and occupational illnesses, workplace accidents also generate high economic costs (Lee, 2003). Many of these costs are directly absorbed by the employer, which amounts to a reduction in the profits of the construction project (Laufer, 1987;Levitt and Samelson, 1993;Everett and Frank, 1996;Rubio et al, 2008).…”

Integration of Occupational Risk Prevention Courses in Engineering Degrees: Delphi Study

“…The number of occupational accidents has continued to grow steadily, from 677,138 (1997) to 924,981 (2007), despite the fact that it seems to have stabilized around 900,000 accidents during the present decade (INE 2009). While workers' health is invaluable, these accidents also have a huge economic cost (Leopold and Leonard 1987, Levitt and Samelson 1993, Everett and Frank 1996, Waehrer et al 2007). …”