MAJOR THEORIES OF CONSTRUCTION ACCIDENT CAUSATION MODELS: A LITERATURE REVIEW

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 grea