Systemic lapses as the main causes of accidents in the Singapore construction industry

ABSTRACT The workplace accidents in Singapore’s construction sector continue to dominate among occupational fatalities. In order to improve the overall safety performance of firms, it is critical to evaluate and eliminate the root causes of such incidents. This study aims to identify and assess the systemic lapses as the main causes of accidents in the construction industry. The study introduces a framework of Policy, Process, People, and Incentive factors, coupled with the Systems Theoretic Accident Model and Processes (STAMP) model to demonstrate a more comprehensive understanding of the contributing factors that escalate to construction accidents. A survey questionnaire with 31 respondent firms was conducted regarding the perceived importance of, and level of adoption of, factors that were associated with the framework. The findings revealed that, with regards to the safety-related practices, there is an overall lower adoption rate in comparison to their perceived level of importance. In particular, people and incentive factors are highlighted as having a significant difference in terms of the extent of adoption and level of importance. However, the people and incentive factors should not be isolated from the policy and process factors, as a comprehensive approach is needed to improve the overall safety performance of firms.