Analysis of the Influence of Socio-Economic Factors on Occupational Safety in the Construction Industry

Abstract

The purpose of the article was to identify the socio-economic factors generated in a construction environment, which affect the number of accidents at a construction site. Moreover, the objective was to construct a mathematical model that correlates selected factors with the number of employees injured in accidents at work at a construction site, and also to estimate the influence of the identified factors on the level of occupational safety. Based on the analysis of the literature, it was stated that there are no studies describing the impact of socio-economic factors on accident rates in construction. The research included 104 factors that characterize the production value, the potential of enterprises, the generic structure of entities, and also employment and its volatility in the construction industry. In order to solve the problem, multiple regression analysis, available in the Statistica software, was applied. The developed mathematical multifactor model reflects empirical values very well, which was confirmed by the values of multiple correlation coefficients, the coefficient of determination, the adjusted coefficient of determination, as well as the mean square error and root mean square error. The construction of the model does not include qualitative factors, e.g., factors that describe the level of safety culture in the society. The developed model was used to determine the number of people injured in accidents at work. The model has certain limitations regarding its applicability. The model was developed for four selected Polish voivodeships that have a similar level of economic development and occupational safety.