Abstract
Construction work involves some of the most complex operational actions, where many activities require to be carried out at the same time and place. The nature of this type of work, subsequently, makes it an extremely hazardous environment for workers. By constructing sophisticated and intelligent safety systems to make construction work and sites safer, and bypasses any unforeseen costs caused by accidents that can occur during the construction work. To construct such systems, it is required to know the causes behind accidents. So that, to improve the overall safety performance, there is a need to investigate the causes of construction accidents and to evaluate the current safety systems used to give a picture of the weak points in systems currently adopted. The awareness of these things can be used in formulating safer working environments for construction work. This paper identifies the causes of the accident and evaluates the present safety systems in different construction projects in Northern Iraq. The study has been conducted by reviewing literature from articles and books, plus applied quantitative approaches to collect data by applying a questionnaire survey prepared for this study to collect data from the sites’ users. The results of the current study show that the overall evaluation of the safety system is in poor condition, also found that there are many causes behind accidents. The most severe cause is considering safety as a second priority, and the study classified the causes into, unsafe actions and unsafe conditions.
Highlights
Construction work such as highways, bridges, buildings, etc. involves a tremendous number of accidents from injuries to fatalities
The survey questionnaire contained 23 questions, and the participants were asked to evaluate how high each cause contributes to construction accidents
Only very high-contribution and high-contribution causes are considered for discussion, since they seem to be the significant contributors to construction accidents
Summary
Construction work such as highways, bridges, buildings, etc. involves a tremendous number of accidents from injuries to fatalities. A study in Thailand was carried out and classified the reasons into an unsafe condition like work nature; worksite conditions; dangerous machinery; risky procedures and unsafe action like failing to use personal protective equipment; inappropriate storing and placing of necessities; incorrect tool utilization (Pipitsupaphol & Watanabe, 2000). Many studies illustrate the effect that inadequate safety systems have on the lives of human wealth in construction work. In some nations, such as the US, the construction sector is responsible for 20 per cent of all occupational deaths, while the construction sector in Hong Kong is responsible for more than 35 per cent of industrial accidents in the last ten years.
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