Classification of Construction Accidents in Northern Cyprus

Abstract

This study, carried out in northern Cyprus, encompasses construction accidents occurred between the years 1994 and 2004 and recorded in the archives of the Ministry of Labor and Social Security. Within the scope of the study, victims were classified according to their industrial brunches firstly and it was established that 793 (26.40%) of total 3004 victims worked in the Construction industry. These 793 construction accidents were classified according to date, hour of the accident, type of accident, result of accident, loss of workday, type and place of injury, age, profession, experience and so on. Results reveal that fall from height (37.70%), crashed by an object (10.97%) and struck by an object (10.84%) are most frequent accident types. However, in case of fatal accidents falls again rank first but electrocutions rank second and crashed, jammed in or between objects and traffic accidents share third place. The results are compared with accidents occurred in Turkey and similarities are observed. Unskilled workers are the most frequent victims (34.40%) of these accidents. At observing the frequency of accidents throughout the year, spring and summer appeared to be the periods in which accidents, and deaths resulting from accidents, were most frequent. It is considered that research findings will provide a broad and beneficiary source for the occupational health and safety studies and would aid policy makers in developing countries especially in Turkey and northern Cyprus.