Health & Safety Module 2.1 Quiz

Health, Safety & Environment (CDB 1012/CEB 1032)

• Module 2.1 covers Accident Causations, Definitions, Theories, and the Price to Pay.

Lecture Contents & Outcomes

• Understand accidents and incidents
• Learn why understanding accident causation theories is important.
• Identify the underlying messages, similarities, and differences in various accident causation theories.
• Understand the cost of accidents.

What is an Accident?

• An accident is an unintended or unplanned event with unacceptable consequences, such as injury to people, damage to property, or process failure.
• An incident is any observable human activity that results in an unwanted event with a negative impact on people, property, or processes.

Example #1 - Struck by a Nail

• A carpenter apprentice was fatally injured when a nail fired from a power tool struck him.
• The tool operator was not properly trained, and no protective equipment was used.

Why do we need to know how accidents happened?

• To prevent accidents, it's crucial to understand their causes, not just immediate ones, but also underlying and prior conditions.
• The focus should be on preventing future similar incidents.

Nature of Accidents

• Accidents have two components: the event itself and the consequences that follow.
• Preventing the event is key as it avoids any consequences.
• Near misses, although without physical damage, are also important to analyze and prevent.
• Consequences are not always immediately apparent.

Accident Causation Theories

• Accident theories provide a systematic understanding of accident causes.
• They help identify contributing factors and enable targeted prevention efforts.
• Useful in classifying accidents and assisting investigation.

Accident Causation Theories: Purpose

• To classify accidents in a logical, objective, and universal system to aid analysis and control.
• To assist in hazard identification through a logical framework.
• To aid in accident investigation and prevention, ensuring investigations are based on sound reasoning.

Accident Causation Theories: Most Widely Known

• Heinrich's Domino Theory
• Human Factors Theory
• Accident/Incident Theory
• Systems Theory
• Combination Theory

Heinrich's Domino Theory

• Established by Herbert W. Heinrich in the 1920s.
• A chain reaction, where one event impacts other dominoes. Social environment, undesirable traits, unsafe acts or conditions, leading to accidents, resulting in injuries.
• This theory posits that 88% of accidents stem from unsafe acts, 10% from unsafe conditions, and 2% are unavoidable. Each 330 incidents result in 300 with no injuries, 29 with minor injuries, and 1 with a lost-time injury.

Heinrich's Domino Theory: Components

• Ancestry and social environment: Inherited or learned negative traits.
• Fault of the person: Negative traits leading to unsafe behavior.
• Unsafe acts or conditions: Actions and conditions that are the direct cause of an accident.
• Accidents: Events resulting in injuries.
• Injuries: Physical harm from the accident.

Unsafe Acts

• Bypassing safety devices.
• Failure to wear protective equipment.
• Wearing inappropriate or unsafe clothing.
• Unauthorized deviations from standard operating procedures (SOPs).
• Using defective or improper equipment.
• Entering confined spaces without proper clearance.
• Horseplay.
• Working on equipment while it is in operation.

Unsafe Conditions

• Defective tools or equipment.
• Incomplete or inadequate equipment design.
• Ungrounded or un-insulated equipment.
• Improper or inadequate clothing.
• Improper stacking or piling of materials.
• Inadequate space or clearance for moving objects.
• Excessive noise
• Lack or poor ventilation, lighting, illumination.

Heinrich's Domino Theory: Two Central Points

• Injuries result from preceding factors.
• Removing the central factor, such as unsafe acts or hazardous conditions, prevents accidents and injuries.

Human Factors Theory

• Accidents are a series of events caused by human error.

• Examines interactions between people, tools, technologies, the environment, and the organization.

• Aims to identify areas of mismatch that led to accidents, or to fix them to prevent future ones.

• Includes human error analysis and classification.

Human Error

• An inappropriate human action or decision that potentially reduces safety or system function.

Who can make errors?

• All individuals involved in an operation, including operators, equipment designers, maintenance personnel, managers and supervisors.

Why do errors happen?

• Individual limitations in information processing.
• Memory constraints.
• Pressure from policies, procedures, technology and management.
• Poor/incorrect information use.

Human Factors Theory: Categories

• Overload: Environmental factors (noise, distractions), personal factors (problems, stress), situational factors (poor instructions, risk level).
• Inappropriate response: Spotting a hazard but not correcting it, removing safeguards from machinery, ignoring safety requirements.
• Inappropriate activities: Performing tasks without appropriate training, misjudging the risk.

Accident/Incident Theory

• An extension of Human Factors Theory. Recognizes ergonomic traps contributing to human error, like inadequate workstations.
• Recognizes the role and failings of management in accident causation.

Systems Theory

• Accident likelihood depends on person-machine-environment interactions.
• Interactions changes increase or decrease likelihood of an accident.
• Examples- change in work schedule, noise, new equipment.

Systems Theory of Causation

• A model depicting the sequence of events—person, machine, and environment interaction to collect information, weigh risks, make decisions, and act, potentially leading to accidents.

Combination Theory

• Accidents may have multiple contributing causes.
• Safety personnel should apply different models as appropriate for accident prevention and investigation.

Cost of Accidents: Iceberg Model

• Direct costs are quantifiable (e.g., insurance claims, medical expenses, lost wages).
• Indirect costs are hidden and often significantly greater than direct costs (e.g., lost time, training replacement workers.)

Costs of Accidents

• Monetary implications resulting from accidents include injuries, illnesses, fatalities, equipment damages and lost production time, reputation damage, customer loss.
• Costs include Investigations, clean-up costs, litigation, restitutions etc.

Summary

• Various theories can help in accident analysis and prevention, and one model doesn't always fit all scenarios.