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Exploring Fatalities and Injuries in Construction by Considering Thermal Comfort Using Uncertainty and Relative
Minsu Lee1, Jaemin Jeong1, Jaewook Jeong1
1Department of Safety Engineering, Seoul National University of Science and Technology, 232 Gongneung-ro, Nowon-gu, Seoul 01811, Korea.
Summary
Construction worker injuries and fatalities are linked to thermal comfort outside ideal ranges, with falls being the most common accident type, especially in autumn. This research highlights weather
Area of Science:
- Occupational Health and Safety
- Environmental Science
- Ergonomics
Background:
- Construction industry accidents are influenced by diverse weather conditions beyond just heat and cold.
- Previous studies primarily focused on extreme hot and cold weather impacts on worker health and safety.
- Understanding the full spectrum of weather's influence on construction site incidents is crucial for comprehensive safety management.
Purpose of the Study:
- To analyze construction industry injury and fatal accidents in relation to thermal comfort using physiological equivalent temperature (PET).
- To investigate the relative importance of thermal comfort in causing accidents using a neural network analysis.
- To provide data for enhanced safety management strategies considering seasonal weather variations.
Main Methods:
- Database establishment and classification of 18 accident types and associated weather conditions.
- Calculation of thermal comfort using physiological equivalent temperature (PET) across all seasons.
- Analysis of 5317 fatal incidents and 207,802 injuries using uncertainty and neural network analysis.
Main Results:
- Falls were identified as the most frequent fatal incident (2804) and injury (71,017), predominantly occurring in autumn.
- Accident probabilities for falls were high (86.01% for injury, 85.60% for fatal) when outside thermal comfort ranges.
- The study analyzed the relative importance of thermal comfort in various accident types across all seasons.
Conclusions:
- Thermal comfort, assessed by PET, is a significant factor contributing to construction industry injuries and fatalities.
- Safety management protocols should integrate detailed weather condition analyses, particularly focusing on non-extreme conditions and seasonal variations.
- The findings underscore the need for proactive safety measures that account for thermal comfort to reduce accidents, especially falls, in the construction sector.
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