Causes of Accident at Construction Sites in Bangladesh

Bangladeshi construction industry suffers more safety issues than other developing countries in the world. Among many of these, accidents at the construction site go far beyond and shape a horrific figure of death every year. The aims of this study are to identify and prioritize the causes of accidents. This study also analyses and discusses causes of accident at the construction site in Bangladesh. A widespread literature review and open discussion took place to identify the causes and design the questionnaire. The questionnaire-based survey was used to elicit the attitude of four stakeholders such as workers, owners, consultants and contractors towards the causes of accident. Mean and relative importance index (RII) were used to determine the rank of causes, and Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) 23 was used to perform the data validation test. This study identifies 77 causes under 14 major groups and ranked them based on the mean and RII. The top five major groups of causes are management-, consultant-, technology-, labour- and contractor-related causes. The top five causes are unawareness of safety-related issue, lack of personal protective equipment, lack of safety eliminating/avoiding design, unfit equipment, lack of knowledge and training on equipment. This study will help the project participants and authorities to know and understand the various characteristics and linkage of causes of construction accidents to improve the construction safety management. It contributes to the body of knowledge, as it reveals for the first time the causes of accidents in the Bangladeshi construction industry.