Identifying root causes of construction injuries

Accident prevention begins with having a clear understanding of those factors that play key roles in their causation. One source of information on the causes associated with many serious injuries and fatalities is maintained by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). This essential information is contained in abstracts that are brief descriptions of the conditions and circumstances that were existent at the time of the accidents. Unfortunately, the information cannot be retrieved readily. This paper presents recommendations on how the OSHA reports could be made more meaningful. First, injuries should be coded into one of the 20 possible cause categories, rather than the traditional five groups of falls, struck-by, electric shock, caught in/between, and other. Additional or secondary cause codes also were developed. If these cause codes were adopted and used to describe all accidents recorded by OSHA, relevant data retrieval may be more effective. This information could then be utilized to focus greater attention on those areas for which modifications in the regulations are warranted and it would be more helpful to the construction industry by emphasizing the major causes of serious accidents.