Fatal Occupational Injuries in the Construction Sector in Kocaeli, Turkey, 1990-2001

Abstract

In Turkey, the construction sector is responsible for the largest number of work-related fatalities among all industries. This study's objective is to determine the characteristics of the fatalities in the construction sector in Kocaeli Province. The study was carried out retrospectively by investigating the records of occupational deaths between 1990 and 2001 in the Kocaeli District of Turkey. Fatal occupational injuries in the construction sector were investigated in detail by evaluating the records. The analysis was based on data from 153 deaths. The incidence of occupational injuries was found overall to be 4.5% in Kocaeli, while the annual mortality rate was 60.4 in Kocaeli and 79.0 in Turkey per 100,000 workers over the entire time period. On the other hand, the fatality rate of occupational injuries was found to be 12.0 per 1,000 in Turkey and 6.4 per 1,000 in Kocaeli. The evaluation of the type of injuries in construction sector has revealed that in 69 of cases (45.1%) fell down from high altitude, in 22 cases (14.4%) vehicle accident, and in 22 (14.4%) electrocution were the cause of death. The leading causes of death have been found to be blunt-force trauma (37.9%) and head trauma (25.5%). Fourty one percent of those who had occupational accidents have had less than one year work experience. Only in 7.8% of deaths, the cause was determined through an autopsy.

Construction Equipment and Motor Vehicle Related Injuries on Construction Sites in Turkey

“…However, in the construction sector, a worker can be employed even before "the paperwork" has been completed. Employers misuse this legal gap, and initiate legal insurance procedure on the day the accident occurs 2) . If this is the case, then it may be suggested that since there are thousands of workers in the construction sector, working without insurance and as they are not recorded officially, not only for motor vehicle or equipment accidents but also for all types of construction accidents, statistics cannot be accurate.…”

“…Approximately 72,000 occupational accidents occur each year, and approximately 1,000 of these cases end with deaths. In addition to this, about 90% of occupational accidents result in temporary disability, whilst 2.5-3.5% results in permanent disability 2) . In Table 1, it can be seen that between years 1992 and 2002, the average incidence rate of fatal injuries is 56.4 per 100,000 workers.…”

“…In Turkey also detailed investigation on construction equipment-related accidents and traffic accidents on construction sites may be regarded as an untouched field of research. However, researchers have begun to focus on the industry and the classification of the accidents 2,28) .…”

Evaluation of work-related accidents among Hamadan construction workers

“…This finding was consisting with results of previous research which were conducted in several fields. For example, colak, Bahrampoor and vatani-shoja et al had reported that fractures were more than 70% percent of accidents consequences in their studies (11,13,14). Highest frequencies of causes of accidents were carelessness with the frequency of 280 cases 80.69%) and deficiency or lack of suitable fence, respectively.…”

Trend Analysis of Construction Industrial Accidents in Korea from 2011 to 2015

“…Colak et al [14] evaluated the characteristics of occupational injuries for construction employees in the Kocaeli Province (Turkey), suggesting that small companies should be checked more systematically and should be encouraged to properly train their workers with regard to safety. Cheng et al [15] focused on analyzing the accident patterns of small construction enterprises in Taiwan and discovered that most of the accidents in small construction companies occurred in non-governmental projects with contract prices below 5 million NTD (New Taiwan Dollars).…”