Analysing Near-Miss Incidents in Construction: A Systematic Literature Review

Abstract

The construction sector is notorious for its high rate of fatalities globally. Previous research has established that near-miss incidents act as precursors to accidents. This study aims to identify research gaps in the literature on near-miss events in construction and to define potential directions for future research. The Scopus database serves as the knowledge source for this study. To identify publications on near-miss events, the search field “Article Title, Abstract, Keywords” was utilized with the keywords “construction” and “near miss”. The main research themes were defined based on keyword mapping performed using VOSviewer. Selected publications were assessed for their alignment with the defined research theme. A statistical analysis of the publications and the co-occurrence of keywords was conducted. The authors of the identified publications primarily used statistical analyses, artificial intelligence, employee monitoring, tracking systems, and building information modelling in their research. The conclusions from the literature review indicate a need for further research focused on developing effective predictive models for workplace accidents based on knowledge of near-miss events. This will contribute to a better understanding of the mechanisms leading to accidents and their prevention, ultimately resulting in a significant reduction in accidents in the construction sector.