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Article

13 Nov 2017

Author:
Gatonye Gathura, Standard Digital (Kenya)

Kenya: Study blames high rate of injuries & deaths in construction sector on contractors negligence in ensuring workers' safety

“Study links fatalities at construction sites to reluctance to invest in safety”

The construction boom in Nairobi has been blamed for the high rate of accidents and loss of life among young men. Data from the Directorate of Occupational Safety and Health (Dosh) recorded 237 accidents in a four-year period, with 32 fatalities in Nairobi. At the same time, the data shows about 115 men aged 21 to 40 were seriously injured during the period, some of them sustaining lifetime disabilities. More than 70 per cent of the injured or workers killed in accidents at construction sites in Nairobi were aged below 40 years. The data was analysed in a new study on the safety of construction sites in Nairobi by a team led by Raymond Kemei of the Kenya Army Corps of Engineers of the Kenya Defence Forces. Most of the accidents in the study occurred in Kasarani, Embakasi, Westlands and Kibera sub-counties in that order. “Kasarani had the highest number of reported accidents while Kibera had the highest number of fatal accidents,” says the study in the September issue of the American Journal of Construction and Building Materials.

The data draws a link between a rush to meet deadlines and the ending of the national financial year to the frequency of accidents. The highest number of accidents, the study shows, happens during the months of June and July, more than doubling in the latter. The authors...suggest pressure from the financial year calendar compromised safety measures at most sites.