Modified accident causation model for highway construction accidents (ACM-HC)

Purpose The purpose of this study is to establish a modified accident causation model for highway construction accidents (ACM-HC) and describe the establishment process of the ACM-HC. Design/methodology/approach Based on the 2–4 Model, a framework of the ACM-HC was constructed, and the accident causal factors (CF) were extracted from four aspects of human, material, environment and management. In addition, association rule mining (ARM) was introduced to analyze accident investigation reports to obtain the interrelationships between the factors. Based on the framework, factors and ARM results, the ACM-HC was established. Finally, the ACM-HC was verified with a tunnel collapse accident. Findings Both the external and internal causes of contractor cause accidents. The flaws of safety management of other stakeholders are external causes. In terms of the internal causes, there are four stages: direct causes, indirect causes, radical causes and root causes. More specifically, the direct causes refer to the unsafe acts and the unsafe conditions; ineffective safety supervision and poor individual factors of frontline workers constitute the indirect causes; the radical causes lie in the flaws of construction procedures and technical schemes; the root causes are related to the poor individual factors of decision makers and managers. Originality/value The ACM-HC expresses the causes, sequence and mechanism of highway construction accidents in a visual way. In addition, this study describes a process of using a qualitative–quantitative hybrid approach to establish a modified ACM, which provides a different perspective for the establishment of an ACM.