Investigation of non-fatal occupational accidents and their causes in Turkish shipyards

This study reports new data for 1028 non-fatal occupational accidents dated between January 2010 and April 2015 by applying the analytical hierarchy process (AHP) technique. A comprehensive survey was conducted at four shipyards in Tuzla, Istanbul and Yalova regions in Turkey and a workplace questionnaire appropriate for the AHP technique was carried out. The obtained results indicated that inadequate safety equipment and protective clothing, unsuitable usage of machines and tools, and disobeying occupational health and safety (OHS) procedures were the most common risk factors for the accidents. Hence the preventive measures could be identified by analyzing non-fatal accident data. After the identification of the descriptive measures, the priority order of these measures was asked of the occupational safety professionals in the shipbuilding industry, and we used the AHP method to evaluate the results.