Analysis of physiological risk factors for occupational accidents in construction industry

Abstract

It is a well-known fact that construction tasks require intensive physical perfor mance and continuous attention. These factors sometimes have adverse impacts on workers and stimulate construction accidents. Since it is commonly emphasized that there is a significant relationship between accidents and physiological parameters, this research aims to observe the relationship between accident times and the physiological measurements collected from construction workers. For this purpose, eight different hypotheses were developed between the physiological variables and construction ac cidents. To test these hypotheses the real-time Heart Rate (HR), Skin Temperature (ST), Electrodermal Activity (EDA), and Blood Sugar Levels (BSL) of the construction workers were collected during winter and summer time. The real-time physiological variables were collected from a total of 21 workers at two different seasons in the con struction site. The information about construction accidents that occurred in Turkey between 2010 and 2018 years was received from Social Security Insurance (SSI). The hourly and seasonal correlation analysis between the accidents and real-time moni tored physiological variables (EDA, HR, BSL, and ST) were performed in this study. Spearman’s Correlation analysis, a non-parametric correlation method, was performed between construction accidents and physiological measurements. The results of this study show that construction accidents are significantly inverse correlated with BSL of the workers in the morning hours (before lunch). On the other hand, there is a signifi cant seasonal correlation between the other physiological variables (i.e. HR, EDA, ST) and construction accidents. To overcome adverse impacts of the physiological factors on the workers, efficient can be arranged and more short breaks should be given.