Trends in Catastrophic Occupational Incidents among Electrical Contractors, 2007–2013

Abstract

This study used methodologies of descriptive and quantitative statistics to identify the contributing factors most affecting occupational accident outcomes among electrical contracting enterprises, given an accident occurred. Accident reports were collected from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s fatality and catastrophe database. To ensure the reliability of the data, the team manually codified more than 600 incidents through a comprehensive content analysis using injury-classification standards. Inclusive of both fatal and non-fatal injuries, the results showed that most accidents happened in nonresidential buildings, new construction, and small projects (i.e., $50,000 or less). The main source of injuries manifested in parts and materials (46%), followed by tools, instruments, and equipment (19%), and structure and surfaces (16%). The most frequent types of injuries were fractures (31%), electrocutions (27%), and electrical burns (14%); the main injured body parts were upper extremities (25%), head (23%), and body system (18%). Among non-fatal cases, falls (37%), exposure to electricity (36%), and contact with objects (19%) caused most injuries; among fatal cases, exposure to electricity was the leading cause of death (50%), followed by falls (28%) and contact with objects (19%). The analysis also investigated the impact of several accident factors on the degree of injuries and found significant effects from such factors such as project type, source of injury, cause of injury, injured part of body, nature of injury, and event type. In other words, the statistical probability of a fatal accident—given an accident occurrence—changes significantly based on the degree of these factors. The results of this study, as depicted in the proposed decision tree model, revealed that the most important factor for predicting the nature of injury (electrical or non-electrical) is: whether the source of injury is parts and materials; followed by whether the source of injury is tools, instruments, and equipment. In other words, in predicting (with a 94.31% accuracy) the nature of injury as electrical or non-electrical, whether the source of injury is parts and materials and whether the source of injury is tools, instruments, and equipment are very important. Seven decision rules were derived from the proposed decision tree model. Beyond these outcomes, the described methodology contributes to the accident-analysis body of knowledge by providing a framework for codifying data from accident reports to facilitate future analysis and modeling attempts to subsequently mitigate more injuries in other fields.

Examination of the Contributing Factors to Fatalities in Electrical Trades Due to Contact With Electricity

“…A previous study of 621 catastrophic occupational incidents among electrical contractors from 2003 to 2017 found six factors having significant effects on the fatality rates of electrical contractors in the construction industry, with nature of injury and part of body injured having the strongest association, while project type, source of injury, event type, and fatality cause exhibiting moderate association. 33 Our study revealed accident factors such as gender, age, accident date, location, union status, part of body, human factor, event type, project type, project cost, construction operation cause, fatality cause, electrical event, and source of injury exhibited significant effects on fatalities and serious injuries in electrical occupations.…”

“…A previous study of 621 catastrophic occupational incidents among electrical contractors from 2003 to 2017 found six factors having significant effects on the fatality rates of electrical contractors in the construction industry, with nature of injury and part of body injured having the strongest association, while project type, source of injury, event type, and fatality cause exhibiting moderate association 33 …”

Development of Framework for Estimating Fatality-Related Losses in the Korean Construction Industry

“…The 17 cost items consisted of the following: (1) income loss cost, (2) tax, (3) health insurance, (4) national insurance, (5) employment insurance, (6) human cost, (7) medical care benefits, (8) temporary disability compensation benefits, (9) survivor's benefits, (10) funeral service expense, (11) workers' compensation insurance, (12) settlement cost, (13) others, (14) penalty, (15) fine, (16) delay reimbursement cost, and (17) administrative loss cost.…”

“…According to Sunindijo and Zou [11], fatalities in the construction industry account for about 30-40% among all industries. This stems from the characteristics of what is considered a dangerous industry; specifically, the construction industry has relatively low safety performance when considering injury rates [12][13][14]. Lee et al [15] reported that the number of fatalities continues to increase, with construction sites now considered among the most dangerous workplaces.…”

“…This is true because the characteristics of the Korean construction industry are not considered. For example, some previous studies have quantitatively calculated the fatality loss by considering the cost of insurance [12,28]. However, there are certain characteristics unique to the construction industry in Korea compared to those in other countries [29,30].…”