The examination of workers’ compensation for occupational fatalities in the construction industry

• We examine construction accident reports to identify compensation characteristics.
• We focus on some factors related to safety management regulations on construction sites.
• Those who comply with the regulations give significantly higher compensation in accident cases.
• Workers’ compensation increases with an increasing number of subcontracting layers.
• Workers’ compensation in some specific projects is much lower than that in others.

Construction is one of the most hazardous and risky industries. Construction accidents may result in numerous damages and losses. Workers’ compensation is an important source for estimating the costs of construction accidents. In this article, the applicable laws for occupational injuries and the compensation statistics for construction accidents are examined to identify the characteristics of construction accident compensation in Taiwan. Accident reports during the period 1999–2011 are extracted from case reports of the Northern Region Inspection Office of the Council of Labor Affairs of Taiwan. A total of 574 occupational fatality cases in the construction industry are then analyzed to explore the significant factors for construction accident compensation using analysis of correlation coefficients (Pearson’s r) and analysis of variance (ANOVA).