Spatiotemporal Characteristics and Behavioral Factors of Fatal Construction Accidents in China, 2012

Spatiotemporal Characteristics and Behavioral Factors of Fatal Construction Accidents in China, 2012–2018

He, Changquan / Jia, Guangshe / Zhang, Hongjun / Ding, Kanran

Finding the characteristics of construction accidents will be beneficial to make appropriate safety strategies and policies. However, due to the socioeconomic backgrounds, the characteristics of construction accidents vary from different countries or districts. The purpose of this study is to identify the spatiotemporal characteristics of fatal construction accidents in China and to explore the causes related with behavioral factors. With the data of 4,061 fatal construction accidents in China, the spatial and temporal features were examined. The behavioral factors were also analyzed applying the technique of human factor analysis and classification system (HFACS). The results show that the numbers of accidents and fatalities differ greatly by months, weeks, hours, provinces, and regions. These differences may be affected by various organizational, managerial, and individual factors. Behavioral factors are critical for 4 main types of accidents: fall, object striking, collapse, and hoisting injury. 23 common unsafe behaviors such as failure to detect warning signs of accidents in time are explored related with these accidents. The results indicate that safety practitioners should pay attention to the spatiotemporal variances of construction accidents and focus on the behavioral factors. The flexible safety plans involving more human factors may be necessary in order to reduce construction accidents and to keep the sites safer.