Assessment of the Risk of Individual and Occupational Factors Affecting the Causes of Occupational Accidents in the Construction Industry Using the Fuzzy Hierarchical Analysis Approach: A Case Study in Kurdistan Province, Iran

Background and Aim: Based on the Iranian Social Security Organization statistics, in 2012 the accidents occurring in the construction industry accounted for 26% of all the occupational accidents in the country. Therefore, this study was conducted to identify the individual and occupational risk factors affecting the causes of occupational accidents in this industry using the fuzzy hierarchical analysis approach in Kurdistan province, Iran. Materials and Methods: The individual and occupational risk factors affecting the occurrence of accidents in the construction industry were first identified. This was followed by completion of a questionnaire, designed based on the fuzzy hierarchical analysis, by 121 safety officials, safety officers, Labor Office inspectors, university occupational health professors and occupational health graduates in Kurdistan Province, Iran in 2019. Based on the minimum acceptable incompatibility rate of 0.1, 40 questionnaires were discarded and, so, only the remaining 81 questionnaires were analyzed. The data were analyzed based on the fuzzy hierarchical analysis approach.                                                    Results: Of the five individual factors and three occupational factors, the risk factor of unsuitable physical fitness for the assigned task and the risk factor of salary were found to have the highest weight risk factors, namely, 0.41 and 0.57, respectively. Conclusion: Based on the results of the this study, it is suggested that in order to reduce the occurrence of accidents in the construction industry, the relevant project contractors should give due attention and priority to the financial concerns and physical fitness of the workforce.