Volume 12, No. 2, 2018
Received: 2018/03/08, Accepted:
Authors:
Al-Khaburi, Sakina; Amoudi, Omar;
Abstract:
The construction sector has poor reputation records in terms of accidents, hazards and fatalities at construction sites around the world. These accidents affect all aspects of construction projects in terms of human, financial, reputation, time, quality and scope issues. In order to handle these accidents and minimize their impacts, there
is a need to identify, understand and analyze the root causes behind these accidents. This can be achieved by exploring the main causes that lead to construction accidents and evaluating their contribution to these accidents, especially in Oman. This paper aims to investigate the main causes that lead to construction accidents in Oman. An intensive literature review was carried out to identify possible causes of construction accidents. Then, two case studies and a questionnaire survey were utilized to collect data from realistic projects and construction professionals in Oman. Data was analyzed by using Excel Software. The findings indicate that there are five major causes that lead to construction accidents, which were found from the analysis of the two case studies; namely, poor instruction by the supervisor, lack of training, lack of workers’ awareness, lack of
maintenance of equipment and underestimating dangers by workers. However, the results from the questionnaire survey revealed that there are four main causes with a very high contribution to construction
accidents, which are: lack of contractor awareness regarding health and safety, poor scaffolding, lack of health and safety warning signs at the construction site and lack of safety considerations by site supervisors. The results show that the contractor has the main responsibility of construction accidents in Oman. However, the
responsibility of managing these accidents should not be placed solely on the contractor, but should be shared by all parties; namely, the client, consultant, contractor, sub-contractors and site workers.
Keywords:
Accidents, Safety, Construction sites, Causes of accidents, Building projects, Oman