Fatal occupational injuries in the construction industry of a new development area in east China, 1991 to 1997

Two hundred thirty-five work-related deaths occurred in the construction in dustry in a new economic development area in eastern China between 1991 and 1997, These fatalities represented 55% of all occupational deaths. The ave rage annual mortality rate was 51.5 per 100,000 construction workers. Falls were the leading cause of death (46.4%). Falls, collisions, struck by/agai nst something, electrocutions, and excavation cave-ins were the main fatali ty antecedents, accounting for nearly 93.6% of all fatalities, The most com mon antecedents for incidents with multiple fatalities were falls, crane-re lated events, poisoning, and fire, These categories of antecedents were sim ilar to those encountered in the construction industry in the United States . These data suggest that organizations need to focus on these event types when planning their prevention activities. Moreover, improved surveillance systems including computerized databases with narrative descriptions of inj ury events, antecedent factors, and person-time at-risk data are needed to target interventions more precisely.