Effect of Project Types on Business Health and Safety Practices in the Construction Sector: Focusing on Ankara Province

Abstract

Today, the concept of occupational health and safety emerges from technical, legal, and socioeconomic aspects at every point of life. This study discusses the work accidents that have occurred at construction sites, the perspectives of employees in the sector toward these accidents, and what can be done after such work accidents occur. A survey was conducted with 384 construction project employees in Ankara (employers, technical staff, and workers). The interactions between parameters that are thought to cause workplace accidents have been evaluated. The study concludes that in large size projects, OHS measures were increased and that measures against occupational accidents in public housing areas were more effective than other project types. It has been found that occupational health and safety training is provided in 49.2% of the projects in build-and-sell sector and in 100% of turn-key projects. Some of the striking points that have emerged from the study are that the distance to danger has been increased by all the infrastructure companies within the context of collective protection against a present danger and that 90.5% of danger sources have been isolated by the mass housing developers. The results of the study are expected to positively contribute to the development of occupational health and safety training in the construction sector.

Keywords: Occupational health and safety, work accidents, use of personal protective equipment, OHS trainings