Analysis on Human Unsafe Acts Contributing to Falling Accidents in Construction Industry

Falling from high is an accident type with high frequency and high death rate in construction industry. It occupies nearly 60% of the total accidents in construction industry in China. Human factors contribute to most of this accident type. 56 accidents were analyzed utilizing 24 Model in this paper, which was an accident causation model developed by one of the author. 19 categories of unsafe acts were identified from the falling accident analysis. Unsafe acts involving both frontline workers and managers were studied. Moreover, 2 key unsafe acts, insufficient training on workers and defects on usage of safety belt or safety helmet, were identified to contribute to nearly 80% of the accident. The results provided guidelines to develop interventions for preventing falling accidents. Results obtained in this paper can be used by companies in their occupational safety strategies and design of safety training programs.