Work place injuries and deaths is a key issue in employment world today. According to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) which inspects the safety of workers in the U.S., approximately 4679 workers died from workplace injuries in the year 2014. On average, this translated to almost 13 deaths per day (OSHA). 17 percent of these deaths were fatal injuries involving contractors. Out of the 4215 fatalities reported from the private industry, 20.5 percent were from construction, with the causes in construction being falls, electrocution, struck by object and caught in between arranged in order.  These statistics are not encouraging. Many hard working Americans are losing their life or become incapable to work due to workplace injuries.  According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the rate of occupational injuries was 107.1 per 10, 000 full time workers (OSHA). The rate had decreased from 109.4 per 10000 in the year 2013. However, the rate of these injuries is still high and something needs to be done.

The problem here is what leads to all these fatalities. The government has already set the safety regulatory compliances but the rate of workplace injuries and fatalities is still high. There are bodies mandated to inspect any workplace for safety concerns. When the workplace environment is not safe, the workers are at risk of workplace fatalities and injuries. It is upon the managements of to ensure that the environment is safe for the workers.

This study looks to determine the root cause of workplace injuries in the construction sector which is the worst affected. Many studies have been done to identify the types of accidents that occur in the construction but fewer studies explain the root cause of these accidents. My hypothesis is that many workers are involved in workplace injuries because they fail to recognize when it is unsafe, are forced to work in an unsafe environment or they recognize the safety concerns but assume them.

A study by Abdelhamid & Everett (2000) to determine the root cause of accidents in construction concluded that workers with insufficient training cannot identify an unsafe environment. Workers with no training about a job but still decide to play unsafe can never be accident free.  In addition, management procedures should identify and remove any unsafe conditions in the construction site.

References

Abdelhamid, T. S., & Everett, J. G. (2000). Identifying root causes of construction accidents. Journal of construction engineering and management, 126(1), 52-60.

Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). (n.d.). UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF LABOR. Retrieved May 09, 2016, from https://www.osha.gov/dep/fatcat/dep_fatcat.html

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