Occupational accidents and prevention through design in the Malaysian construction industry

Abstract

The construction industry plays a vital role in the social and economic development of all countries. However, it considered as one of the most vulnerable field to work-related injuries and fatalities. Thus, construction workers' safety and health should be considered as top priority. In this respect, this study focus on investigating the occupational accidents fatality and highlight the variables linked to the fatality as well to focus on prevention of the occupational accidents during the designing phase. The population size of this study is n=210 accident cases, the data collected from The Department of Occupational Safety and Health (DOSH). The study identified the relationship between fatality and 210 accidents occurred in Malaysian construction industry in the year 2018. Frequency analysis, cross tabulation and logistic regression implemented to analyze the dependent variable (fatality)'s relationship with seven independent variables using statistical tools, which include gender, nationality, cause of accident, type of accident, body part, agent of accident and month of accident. The outcomes of the statistical analysis show 6 independent variables except gender have significant link to fatality, and especially cause of accidents, type of accident and body part. They have strong relationship based on Phi or Cramer’s V test. Also, preventive strategy for occupational fatal falls accident highlighted based on the falls are the leading cause of accidents. Designers can obtain great benefits from these results because some variables, can provide them with practical approach to hazard identification and design solution integration.