ABSTRACT
The analysis of the economic impact of occupational health and safety has been side-lined for many years. Various studies have acknowledged the importance of analysing the seriousness of accidents on the basis of the number of working days lost due to injuries sustained in such accidents in different economic sectors. In this longitudinal comparative study, we analyse the average duration of sick leave associated with 4,098,520 accidents that occurred in Spain between 2013 and 2019, and more specifically with 5724 accidents involving direct and indirect electrical contact. Based on the number of lost workdays, the relationship between the seriousness of electrical accidents and the economic sectors where they occur is explored via contingency tables in which statistical Chi-square value (χ2) was calculated. The main results obtained show that the average duration of sick leave shows an upward year-on-year trend in all three economic sectors. In addition, accidents due to direct and indirect electrical contact occur in all sectors, and the injuries produced in this type of accident are more severe than those produced in the sum of all accidents in Spain. Our figures show that the longest duration of sick leave occurs in the primary sector, followed by the tertiary and the secondary sectors. These results should prompt the competent authorisites to require businesses to maintain the equipment and facilities in good order, and to introduce effective supervision programmes that guarantee compliance with the measures enforced and reduce the serious consequences of electrical accidents.
ABSTRACT
It is often predicted that the industrialization of building activities will lead to a reduction of accident rates in the construction sector, particularly as a result of switching activities from building sites to factories. However, to date no scientific research has provided objective quantitative results to back up this claim. The aim of this paper is to evaluate how industrialization affects the accident rate in different industrialized building systems in Spain. Our results revealed that the industrialized steel modular system presents the lowest accident rate, while the highest accident rate was recorded in the construction method with cast-in-place concrete. The lightweight construction system also presents a high accident rate. Accordingly, industrialized building systems cannot claim to be safer than traditional ones. The different types of "on-site work" seem to be the main variable which would explain the accident rates recorded in industrialized construction systems.
