Occupational safety in the construction industry

Abstract

Background: The paper is a research review focusing on occupational safety in the construction industry.

Objective: The purpose is to present research that highlights the areas of occupational safety and risks and to identify areas where research is lacking.

Methods: 146 articles from scientific journals, mainly covering the construction industry in Europe, Canada, USA, Australia and Japan have been studied. The findings are presented under 11 categories: accident statistics; individual factors; legislation and regulations; ethical considerations; risk management; leadership, management, organization; competence; safety design; cost-benefit calculations; programs and models; and technical solutions.

Results: The research is dominated by initiatives from researchers and government authorities, while the construction industry only appears as the object for the research. There is a scarcity of research on integrated systems encompassing subcontractors, as well as a lack of research with sociological perspectives on accidents. Furthermore, only a few studies have applied a gender perspective on safety in construction, i.e. there is a need of further research in this particular area.

Conclusions: A range of initiatives have been taken to increase safety in the construction industry and the initiatives are mainly reported to be successful. There are some cultural differences, but basically researchers present similar results regardless of country.

Keywords: Accidents; risk management; safety design; safety interventions and prevention; technical solutions.