An Epidemiological Study of Accidents in a Construction Industry: A Case-Control Study

Despite science and technology development and their application in various industries, accidents continue to occur in many workplaces. This study was designed and carried out with the aim of epidemiological survey of accident among workers of a tunneling industry.

This study was conducted on 144 out of a total of 440 employees of a tunneling project who were at risk of occupational accidents. 48 workers with a history of occupational accident over the past two years were selected as case group and 96 workers of the same project were selected as control group. The data were collected through a designed checklist and analyzed using logistic regression, chi-square and independent t tests.

A significant association was observed between accident rate and different age groups (p<0.05). There was a significant relationship (p=0.016) in the case of sport activities between case and control groups, and significant relationships were observed between two groups regarding education (p=0.057) and smoking (p=0.06), but there was no significant relationships between accident occurrence with marital status, residence in workplace, job related education, job experience, chronic diseases and obesity.

The results of this study clarify the necessity of the use of epidemiological data in preventive and control measures in workplaces. Therefore, Developing programs for determination of physical and mental capacity of workers are essential to employ them in jobs commensurate with their abilities, especially in older workers.