Perttula, P; Merjama, J; Kiurula, M and Laitinen, H (2003) Accidents in materials handling at construction sites. Construction Management and Economics, 21(7), pp. 729-736. ISSN 01446193
Abstract
The aim of this study is to examine those occupational accidents at construction sites that are related to materials handling as compared with all reportable occupational accidents at construction sites. The main concern is to define the kinds of accidents that occur in materials handling. The data were gathered from two sources: a large Finnish construction company and the database of reports of serious occupational accidents (Sammio). One third of all the reported accidents in the studied construction company occurred during materials transfer and 36% of the absenteeism days resulted from these accidents. Materials handling thus caused more serious accidents than other work activities (t = -2.44, df = 351, p < 0.005). Minor accidents were mostly due to over-exertion whereas serious accidents were mostly falling from a height and injuries caused by falling and collapsing objects. The manual transfer of materials caused most of the materials transfer accidents in the company and mechanical transfer most of the serious materials handling accidents. Over-exertion can, therefore, be decreased by reducing manual materials handling. On the other hand, replacing manual transfers with mechanical transfers means that there arises a risk of serious accidents.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | construction industry; manual materials handling; mechanical materials handling; occupational accident |
| Index terms: | database, construction industry, occupational accident, construction company, construction site, injury, absenteeism |
| Subjects: | management, health risk and incident analysis, industry analysis, data management, health conditions and diseases, organization, work location |
| Topics: | Business Strategy, Health and Safety, Research Practice, Digital Applications, Human Resources, Site Management |
| Descriptive scope: | 3 PCT |
N.B. Descriptive scope is a count of how many of the five facets of empirical research are indicated by the words used in title, abstract and keywords. It is not intended as a judgement on the research; merely a count of the kind of word we would expect to indicate Phenomenon, Concepts, Theoretical framing, Empirical techniques, Analytical techniques. If all five are present, then a code of “5 PCTEA” will indicate this. If you feel the coding for this record is questionable, we welcome discussion around the terms we matched or the way we categorized them. The facet you would expect may not be coded, or a facet may be coded inappropriately. This can also bear on a larger question, of which facets should be treated as defining in construction management research. Please get in touch, and we will look at it. More details here