Analysis of Occupational Accidents in Construction Sector in Turkey

Due to the inadequacy in measures at many construction sites in Turkey, approximately 400 workers died and hundreds of workers become permanently disabled in occupational accidents. Occupational accidents cause serious financial loss for both the company and the country economies. This study is conducted to analyze causes and results of occupational accidents at a construction site in Istanbul-Turkey. Research data consists of the occupational accident statistics of 2012-2013 time period of a construction site in Istanbul, which is obtained by using ‘Retrospective Cohort’ method. In this study, causes and results of occupational accidents, which occurred in the construction site, are investigated. The main reasons for accident occurrence are being hit by dashing and flitting objects’, ‘being hit by objects’, ‘falling objects’ and ‘being stung by something’. As a result of occupational accidents, injuries occurred in the form of incision, exposure to metal burrs, contusion, transient loss of vision, trauma and perforation. Eye, finger, foot and hand injuries are the most common accidents. The majority of occupational accidents occur on Mondays, in summer months and between the hours 16.00-18.00. The most important reason of occupational accidents is ‘unsafe behaviours’ with a rate of 67 %, which is defined as not to obey the rules although the necessary occupational safety measures are provided. Due to occupational accident statistics is not kept enough in Turkey, “accident incidence rates” is lower than the actual rate. According to the survey results, construction occupational accidents incidence rate is at least 6.5%. This rate is 6-10 times more to other sectors in Turkey and all European countries. In Turkey, construction safety performance is much worse than developed countries. Keywords— safety, construction, accident analysis, preventive methods