Application of fuzzy DEMATEL method for analyzing occupational risks on construction sites

Abstract

The construction industry is known as a hazardous industry because of its complexity and strategic nature. Therefore, it is important to know the main causes of occupational accidents to prevent fatal occupational accidents in construction industry. At building construction sites, workers performing tasks are continuously exposed to risks, not only emerging from their own mistakes but also from the mistakes of their co-workers. A great deal of studies investigating risks and preventing occupational hazards for the construction industry has been carried out in the literature. The quantitative conventional methods mostly use either probabilistic techniques or statistics, or both, but they have limitations dealing with the ambiguity and fuzziness in information. In this study, to overcome these limitations, an applicable and improved approach, which helps construction managers to propose preventive measures for accidents on construction sites, is proposed to simplify the risk assessment. It is shown that the Fuzzy Decision Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL) method can evaluate causal factors of occupational hazards by a cause–effect diagram and improve certain safety measures on construction sites. In addition, sensitivity analysis is conducted to verify the robustness of the results.