Lessons Learned from Accident Reports of Falls in the US Construction Industry

10 pages•Published: July 23, 2025

Somik Ghosh, Matthew Reyes and James L. Jenkins

Abstract

Falls from height is one of the leading causes of fatal and non-fatal accidents in the US construction industry. As many accidents are due to system failure, analyzing accident reports can reveal underlying system failures and provide insights for developing effective control measures. This paper examined 100 full-text accident investigation reports compiled by the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) through the Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation (FACE) program to explore the characteristics of the fall fatalities and learn about common trends in the accidents. Looking beyond quantitative information related to accidents, this paper presents the salient features of the accidents, demographics of the victims, and background of the victims’ employers. Further analyses reveal that victims’ actions and behaviors were critical causal factors. This research also suggest that lack of safety training programs might have contributed to the lack of awareness and unsafe behaviors of the victims.

Keyphrases: accident reports, construction safety, falls

In: Wesley Collins, Anthony J. Perrenoud and John Posillico (editors). Proceedings of Associated Schools of Construction 61st Annual International Conference, vol 6, pages 826-835.

Links:	https://easychair.org/publications/paper/gPCN
	https://doi.org/10.29007/9qjq

BibTeX entry

@inproceedings{ASC2025:Lessons_Learned_from_Accident,
  author    = {Somik Ghosh and Matthew Reyes and James L. Jenkins},
  title     = {Lessons Learned from Accident Reports of Falls in the US Construction Industry},
  booktitle = {Proceedings of Associated Schools of Construction 61st Annual International Conference},
  editor    = {Wesley Collins and Anthony J. Perrenoud and John Posillico},
  series    = {EPiC Series in Built Environment},
  volume    = {6},
  publisher = {EasyChair},
  bibsource = {EasyChair, https://easychair.org},
  issn      = {2632-881X},
  url       = {/publications/paper/gPCN},
  doi       = {10.29007/9qjq},
  pages     = {826-835},
  year      = {2025}}

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