Performance of barrier systems and functions in the construction industry

Abstract

Objectives. Improving knowledge about the mechanism of accident occurrence in the construction industry provides important information to help design and implement appropriate barriers to stop the spread of unexpected events. This study characterizes the sequence of accidents in the construction industry by linking the most commonly identified circumstances, the barriers and barrier functions infringed and the specific way in which each of these functioned. Methods. In order to achieve the proposed objective, an analysis was made of 241 investigations of work accidents that occurred in the construction sector in Spain between 2009 and 2014. The statistical difference between the groups of variables was determined using contingency tables in which the value of the χ² statistic was calculated. Results. The results obtained show that behavioural factors are fundamentally identified, such as the worker’s non-observance of ensuring their own safety or the deficient interpretation of rules. Conclusions. This study illustrates that to understand the performance of barrier systems and functions, efforts must be focused not only on the things that go wrong, i.e., accidents, but also on the things that go right within the variability of daily performance in systems as complex as the construction industry.

Keywords:

• occupational accidents
• construction industry
• barrier systems and functions
• variable deviation
• occupational health and safety

Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge the support of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Digital Transformation of the Government of Spain through the project ‘Complexity and Resilience: A Systemic Approach for the Monitoring and Improvement of Safety Management in Construction’.

Ethics approval

All subjects gave their informed consent for inclusion before they participated in the study. The study was conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors. The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this article.