Safety challenges in the construction industry

Abstract Helander, M., 1980. Safety challenges in the construction industry. Journal of Occupational Accidents , 2: 257–263. The construction industry is the largest single industry in the United States, supplying 10% of the Gross National Product. The industry experiences the highest accident rate of all major industries and the annual costs for accidents has been assessed at $12 billion. Despite this fact, very little research has been performed to analyze construction-work safety. This article provides an explanation as to why so little research has been done to date. For the future, there are large humanitarian and economic incentives which should inspire an increased interest in performing ergonomic research in the construction. industry.