Construction accidents: identification of the main associations between causes, mechanisms and stages of the construction process.

OBJECTIVE: To identify the most frequent causes of accidents in the construction sector in order to help safety practitioners in the task of prioritizing preventive actions depending on the stage of construction. METHODS: Official accident investigation reports are analysed. A causation pattern is identified with the proportion of causes in each of the different possible groups of causes. RESULTS: Significant associations of the types of causes with accident mechanisms and construction stages have been identified. CONCLUSIONS: Significant differences have been found in accident causation depending on the mechanism of the accident and the construction stage ongoing. These results should be used to prioritize preventive actions to combat the most likely causes for each accident mechanism and construction stage.

Causation of severe and fatal accidents in the manufacturing sector.

The main purpose of this paper is to identify the most frequent causes of accidents in the manufacturing sector in Andalusia, Spain, to help safety practitioners in the task of prioritizing preventive actions. Official accident investigation reports are analyzed. A causation pattern is identified with the proportion of causes of each of the different possible groups of causes. We found evidence of a differential causation between slight and nonslight accidents. We have also found significant differences in accident causation depending on the mechanism of the accident. These results can be used to prioritize preventive actions to combat the most likely causes of each accident mechanism. We have also done research on the associations of certain latent causes with specific active (immediate) causes. These relationships show how organizational and safety management can contribute to the prevention of active failures.