Assessment of occupational accidents in construction sector: A case study in Turkey

Abstract

It is essential to investigate the parameters that have an impact on accident occurrence in light of the precautions that can be taken against possible occupational accidents. Statistics on work-related accidents in Turkey are gathered through Turkish Statistical Institute (TSI) and Social Security Institution (SSI). SSI shares occupational accident data online annually. These data, though, there is not a comprehensive data repository, are not boiled down to province-based and/or work branch specific data. In this study, it is aimed to be able to carry out an in-depth examination of occupational accidents in construction work. For the in-depth investigation of occupational accidents in the construction work, causes of accidents are studied using Trabzon SSI Provincial Directorate's occupational accident archive files. From these files, data from 194 occupational accident files have been sorted out related to the construction industry by examining 868 occupational accidents one by one between 2010 and 2011. Data have been classified according to lots of factors, and frequency distribution of factors are examined by performing univariate frequency analysis in SPSS package program. The data obtained from the study is interpreted to put forth the reasons of occupational accidents specific to Trabzon. Besides, it is determined that occupational accidents in Trabzon are compared with Turkey's data, and they show a great resemblance to each other. Finally, some suggestions are put forward towards reducing occupational accidents in this industry.