International Journal of Advances in Engineering & Technology, Sept 2012. ©IJAET ISSN: 2231-1963 53 Vol. 4, Issue 2, pp. 53-66 MAJOR THEORIES OF CONSTRUCTION ACCIDENT CAUSATION MODELS: A LITERATURE REVIEW Seyyed Shahab Hosseinian, Zahra Jabbarani Torghabeh Department of Structure and Materials, Faculty of Civil Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM), Johor Bahru, Johor, Malaysia ABSTRACT Accidents in construction sites are unplanned occurrences involving movement of persons, objects or materials which may result in injuries, damages and losses to properties or people. The majority of accidents happen as result of unsafe acts and unsafe conditions. Since all hazards in construction workplaces are not always possible to be identified and eliminated therefore effective accident investigation programs are essential for collecting critical data. Construction accidents can be prevented just by identifying the root causes of accidents, which is possible by accident investigation techniques such as theories of accident causation theories and human errors; these theories provide explanations of why accidents happen. This paper is aimed at reviewing the most common accident causation theories which mainly focus on people variable, management aspects and physical characteristics of hazards. The intention of this paper is to enhance the overall understanding of the accident causation theories which signifies the identification of how hazards in the construction workplaces cause losses. On the contrary the weakness of these theories is that they do not offer extensive strategic guidelines for managers and supervisors for reducing risks at construction workplaces. Moreover, these theories imply the inappropriate perception that accidents in workplaces can be prevented if human errors are eliminated. Strategies need to be revised to manage the risk and workers need to be watchful of it. A great number of accidents can be prevented if the safety management system reflects both natural degradation and these intrinsic threats. The initial step in developing such system is preparing a model which shows the interaction between the accident likelihood and organizational tasks and activities in the presence of these hazards. KEYWORDS: Construction safety, Hazards, Construction accident, Accident causation theory/model, Accident prevention I. INTRODUCTION Construction industry plays an important role in improvement of countries’ economic growth. Despite the contributions to economical growth, construction industry has always been blamed for the high rates of accidents and fatalities; this issue has placed the construction industry among the industries with unreasonable rates of accidents, permanent and non permanent disabilities and even fatalities. There are many evidences in representing construction industry as a hazardous and inconsistent industry [1]. High rates of accidents and fatalities in this industry have placed it among hazardous industries. The costs of injuries, which are direct and indirect, Workers’ compensation insurance, legal liability as well as legal prosecutions have pushed parties involved to seek ways of mitigating these hazards [2]. The world rates of occupational injuries, illnesses and fatalities are still alarming. Nationally, more than 55,000 people die from occupational hazards annually, 294,000 illnesses and 3.8 million are getting injured. The accidents’ annual direct and indirect costs have been appraised to be from $128 billion to $155 billion. Construction accidents lead to delay in project completion, increase the expenses and ruin the reputation and reliability of constructors [3]. According to report by NSC (National Safety Council) in 1996, 1000 construction workers died at work and 350,000