Factors Affecting Roofer Fall Accidents: A Literature Review

Identifying factors affecting roofer fall accidents

Roofers continue to suffer frequent fall-related injuries and fatalities. The objectives of this research were (a) identifying the factors affecting roofer fall accidents; (b) investigating the frequency distributions of these factors; (c) examining the relationships between the factors; and (d) developing a statistical model for fatal and nonfatal fall outcomes. Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA) accident data was analyzed using categorical variables. After establishing data demographics, cross-tabulation analysis was performed to determine factor relationships, and logistic regression modeling was done to predict accident outcomes using degree of injury as a dependent variable and the significant factors from cross-tabulation as independent variables. It was found that roofers most frequently experienced falls while working in smaller alteration/rehabilitation projects and at heights below 20 feet. Unguarded/improperly secured platforms, walkways, openings, edges and ladders, misjudgment of hazardous situation, and improper choice of equipment/process came out to be significant contributing factors. It was observed that the odds of fatality decreased when roofers were provided OSHA-compliant fall protection systems; used these systems; and received fall protection training per OSHA requirements. The model developed and validated in this study successfully predicted the fall accident outcomes in terms of fatality and nonfatal injury.

Falls from height remain the leading cause of fatalities in residential construction. We used results from a comprehensive needs assessment to guide changes in fall prevention training in a joint union-contractor carpenter apprenticeship program; including surveys of 1018 apprentice carpenter and observational audits at 197 residential construction sites. The revised training utilized hands-on, participatory training methods preferred by the learners to address the safety gaps in the curriculum; including ladder use, leading edge work, truss setting, and use of scaffolding and personal fall arrest. We compared apprentice surveys and residential worksite audits 1–2 years post training with baseline measures. Apprentices working residential construction were more likely to fall from heights than those working commercial construction. The revised training resulted in improved fall safety knowledge, self-reported worksite behaviors, risk perceptions, and safety climate, even after adjusting for temporal trends. We also observed significant improvements in fall safety compliance in most domains of the worksite audit, with larger changes observed in areas emphasized in the training, demonstrating specificity of the effect. Greater effects were noted in small and medium-sized contractors, who often have limited resources to devote to safety. Self-reported falls fell by 20%. This research supports growing evidence that worksite safety can be improved by training.

Falls remain the leading cause of injuries and fatalities in the small residential roofing industry and analogous investigations are underrepresented in the literature. To address this issue, fall protection training needs were explored through 29 semi-structured interviews among residential roofing subcontractors with respect to recommendations for the design of fall-protection training. Content analysis using grounded theory was conducted to analyze participants’ responses. Results of the analysis revealed six themes related to the design of current fall-protection training: (1) barriers to safety training; (2) problems of formal safety-training programs; (3) recommendations for training implementation; (4) important areas for fall-protection training; (5) training delivery means; and (6) design features of training materials. Results of the study suggest the need for informal jobsite safety training to complement what had been covered in formalized safety training. This work also provides recommendations for the design of a more likely adopted fall-protection training program.

Prepare a literature review for the given research topic based upon the three annotated bibliographies provided above. Your written deliverable should produce a coherent literature review by incorporating the evaluation of each research work and establishing how they are relevant to your research topic and the objective. You need to group similar findings by theme and provide appropriate in-text citation as taught in the class. Your literature review must be organized to include the Introduction-Body- Conclusion structure.