Evaluation of the effect of particulate matter on construction accidents using relative probability

PM₁₀ is known to have a great adverse effect on the human body. However, there is a lack of research analyzing the impact of PM₁₀ on the occurrence of accidents. Accordingly, the purpose of this study is to analyze the correlation between PM₁₀ and accidents in the construction industry and to present a new concentration group to manage accidents caused by PM₁₀ in the construction industry. This study was conducted in the following four stages. (i) collection of data, (ii) classification of data, (iii) relative probability analysis, and (iv) modified PM₁₀ group classification. The main results of this study are as follows. When the frequency analysis of the traditional method was conducted, 3,721 accidents occurred at a PM₁₀ concentration of 32 μg/m³. However, as a result of the relative probability analysis presented in this study, it was confirmed that the relative accident probability increased as the PM₁₀ concentration increased. In addition, the current PM₁₀ concentration is presented by the WHO in six groups from a health perspective. However, in this study, the newly proposed PM₁₀ group was classified into three groups from the perspective of the probability of construction accidents. The group proposed in this study is not from a health perspective but a group for managing construction site accidents. The contribution of this study was to confirm that PM₁₀ also affects accidents occurring at construction sites, and the impact of PM₁₀ on accidents was quantitatively analyzed through the relative probability analysis presented in this study.