OBJECTIVES: The economic burden of occupational injuries has significant effect on the health and social well-being of workers. Consequently, whilst there seems to be growing evidence on the economic burden on other public health issues, little is known about occupational injuries among construction workers, especially those in Low Middle-Income settings including Ghana. This study therefore, sought to estimate the economic burden of occupational injuries among frontline construction workers in Ghana.

METHODS: Prevalence approach involving quantitative data was used to estimate the cost burden of construction injuries. Questionnaires were used to collect cost related data from 635 frontline construction workers, selected through multi-stage cluster sampling. Descriptive statistics were used to estimate the direct and indirect cost of injuries, using STATA version 14.

RESULTS: he average and median direct cost of injury to a worker was GHC 104.84 [US $ 24.52] and GHC 20 [US $ 4.68] respectively whilst indirect cost was GHC 180.89 [US $42.31] and GHC 75.79 [US $ 17.73]. Compared with other injuries, fracture, had the highest average cost- GHS 343.33 (US $ 80.30) whilst concussion and Internal Injury recorded the lowest cost. Likewise, compared with other trades, carpenters had the highest average cost burden whilst Labourers had the lowest burden. Consequently, the average cost of care was higher in public than private service delivery point.

CONCLUSIONS: There is an increasing burden of occupational injuries for workers and could have a significant implication on standard of living. Stakeholders are encouraged to prioritize occupational related injuries at policy level, for instance, regulations of standards and education could have long-term reduction in economic burden.