The article presents an analysis and evaluation of the accident rate in selected European Union countries. On the basis of available statistical data, the analysis of accidents in various sectors of the European Union economy was carried out. Afterwards, a ranking of countries regarding accidents in the construction industry was developed. For the selected representative countries, analysis of changes in the indicators which characterize the accident rate during the period between 2008 and 2012 was carried out. Conclusions resulting from the conducted research were formulated.

The article presents the results of research, the aim of which was to determine the qualitative and quantitative structure of the causes of accidents that were a result of falling from scaffolding. An original methodology for the classification of accidents with regards to their causes was developed and was based on cluster analysis. An example of using the proposed methodology is provided. 187 post-accident protocols of occupational accidents involving construction scaffolding, which occurred between 2010 and 2017 in selected Polish voivodeships, were analyzed. Afterwards, the matrix of accident causes, for which the calculations were made, was created. Five subsets of accidents were obtained and the accidents were classified to a subset with similar causes.