Spatial Analysis of Construction Accidents in Kampala, Uganda

Title: Spatial Analysis of Construction Accidents in Kampala, Uganda
Authors: Irumba, R., Wilhelmsson, M. and Kerali, A.G.
Keywords: accidents, construction industry, regression modelling, spatial analysis,
Issue Date: August 2011
Abstract: Construction work is one of the leading sources of occupational injuries and fatalities in Uganda. This paper set out to investigate the causes of accidents in Kampala, Uganda using spatial analysis tools of visualisation, Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) regression and spatial regression modelling. A cross-sectional survey consisting of a sample of 90 projects randomly selected from a population of 130 large size building projects commissioned by Kampala City Council in 2008 was undertaken. The collected data was supplemented by building records from Kampala City Council, safety statistics from the department of occupational safety and health, and accident investigation reports. Results presented in this paper show that the three most prevalent causes of accidents in Kampala are mechanical hazards (i.e. struck by machines, vehicles, hand tools, cutting edges etc.), being hit by falling objects and falls from height. Congestion, a phenomenon which arises when there is evidence of high building density amidst many fulltime workers on site, is discussed. Based on the results of this paper, the injury rate for Kampala is 4,248 per 100,000 workers and the fatality rate is 92 per 100,000 workers. All these findings are important to guide occupational safety policy formulation in Uganda.
Presented at: The first Conference on Advances in Geomatics Research (2011)

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