Development of a computerized system for fall accident analysis and prevention

This studyʹs objective was to develop a computerized system entitled “SAFECON” (SAFE CONstruction). The systemʹs purpose is to analyze fall accidents and fall protection in industrial construction industries. SAFECON is composed of three modules: fall accident analysis, fall protection analysis, and accident cost and scenario analysis. The fall accident analysis module consists of a fault tree analysis system for fall accident analysis and fall hazard analysis. The fall protection module consists of a rule based expert system to aid in the selection of climbing and fall protection and the mode of training. The accident cost and scenario analysis stores and retrieves the necessary accident to identify areas where accidents are taking place. EXSYS and FOXBASE Plus are SAFECONʹs two software environments. Eleven cases from OSHA Fatal Facts have been used to evaluate the fall accident analysis module. Results show that SAFECON matched the OSHA investigation result with an accuracy of 82%. Fourteen “real world” cases have also been used to evaluate the fall protection module and indicated that SAFECON matched human expertsʹ recommendations with a similarity percentage of 93, 86, 79 and 93% in climbing protection, lifeline system fall protection, lanyard fall protection, and body support fall protection, respectively.