Psychosocial and Occupational Hazards in Kerala Construction Industry: Fid-Bau Portal

Psychosocial and Occupational Hazards in Kerala Construction Industry

Abhijith, R. / Deepika, C. P. / Mirfath, P. N. / Menon, Saraswathi

Construction industry has accomplished extensive growth worldwide particularly in past few years. For a project to be successful, safety of the structure as well as that of the workers is of great importance. Safety issues are to be considered from the planning stage to the completion of the structure. Construction industry employs both skilled and unskilled labour subjected to accidents and risks. The number of fatal accidents taking place at the construction sites is quite increasing. According to a recent study by the International Labour Organization (ILO) 165 out of every 1000 workers have faced injuries from the job. From the results of Occupational Safety and Health Administration examination, the causes of construction fatalities, it was shown that 39% of fatalities in construction were caused by falls, 8.4% were struck by objects, 1.4% were caught in between incidents, and 8.5% were caused by electrocution. Very little research has been done on the occupational health, hazards and psycho-social problems of workers especially in different countries like India. Safety in construction is important as any fatal accident will cause irreparable loss of human life, money and progress of work leading to reduction in morale and demotivation of work force. A psychosocial hazard is an occupational hazard that affect the psychological as well as the social well-being of workers, including their ability to participate in a work environment among other people. Exposure to psychosocial hazards in the workplace produces both psychological and physiological damage to the employees. It also produces repercussions within the society, thereby reducing the productivity in local/state economies, corroding familial/interpersonal relationships, and producing negative behavioural outcomes. In this study, we would like to conduct a questionnaire survey across Kerala construction industry and analyse the result using AMOS 22.0 to evaluate the reasons behind accidents in Kerala construction industry.