Analysis of Occupational Accidents in Greek Construction Sector—the Use of Deviation in Accident Reports

Abstract

AbstractObjective: This paper presents the Greek Labour Inspectorate statistics relevant to occupational accidents in the construction industry for the years 2000–2017 and aims to explore patterns of all occupational accidents and fatalities among the construction workers, especially in relation with deviations. Background: The construction sector, due to its nature, is one of the most risky industries, occupying the first place in terms of fatal accidents. Method: In this study, from the analysis of the data derived from all published annual reports of Greek Labour Inspectorate, a statistical analysis of incidence rates (IRs) and mortality rates (MRs) was conducted to reveal the trend of occupational construction accidents. A further assessment of deviation as defined by the European Statistics on Accidents at Work (ESAW) methodology was performed. Results: From the statistical analysis, falls to a lower level, slips and falls to the same level were related to the higher number of occupational fatalities for the years 2009–2017. The deviation type has proved to be statistically significant to the causation of all occupational construction accidents and of fatalities. Conclusion: Findings could help towards comparing data from other countries in Europe to formulate a European effective prevention strategy, taken into consideration the probable underreporting of non-fatal occupational accidents in construction, and the quality of statistical data. Application: Analysing national accident data can help to assess a country’s performance in construction safety and design effective prevention policies.KeywordsAccident statisticsConstruction accidentIncidence rateMortality rate