The effect of OHS costs on accident severity rate in the construction industry

Abstract

Due to its dynamic nature, rapid technology change, uneducated employees, harsh working conditions, many work accidents, and heavy consequences of accidents, occupational health and safety (OHS) practices are essential in the construction industry. However, occupational Health and Safety measures in the construction industry come with additional costs. Therefore, employers who have to bear a cost to take OHS measures may consider OHS costs unnecessary without considering the costs they will bear after work accidents and occupational diseases. This research aims to estimate the optimal costs of OHS budgets to reduce the number of accidents with lost time injury and whether the carried costs for occupational health and safety in the construction industry impact the lost time injuries. Therefore, OHS costs in the construction industry are grouped into eight categories: fire, work equipment, electricity, health, personal protective equipment, general equipment, training and occupational health and safety service costs. This research is based on the standard unit costs set for the 8 OHS criteria required by the OHS laws, accident severity rates and actual unit costs that the projects have carried for five years for the construction of 15 buildings with 220.000 m2- 500.000 m2 indoor space which is located in Istanbul Turkey, started in 2013 and completed in 2017. Since the research was conducted before January 1, 2020, there is no requirement for an ethics committee permission document. According to the research results, as the costs of occupational health and safety services, fire and training increased, accident severity rates has decreased. However, the impact of other variables on accident severity rates was not statistically significant. Thus, construction enterprises that want to decrease the accident severity rates in their projects need to emphasise occupational health and safety services, fire, and training criteria.