Domino Accident Causation Theory

Accident causation theories include the human factors theory, the domino theory, the systems theory, the combination theory, the epidemiological theory, and the accident/inddent theory [1,2]. The first two of these theories are described below. 

Heinrich relied on some of these theories to form his Domino Theory of accident causation. See Chapter 3. Today, other methods describe how leaders impact work-related behavior and accident prevention. 

There are several domino theories of accident causation. While each domino theory presents a different explanation for the cause of accidents, they all have one thing in common. All domino theories are divided into three phases ... 

H. W. Heinrich developed the original domino theory of accident causation in the late 1920s. Although written decades ago, his work in accident causation is still the basis for several contemporary theories. 

Figure 5-2. An illustration of Heinrich s Domino Theory of Accident Causation.

Manuele (1997a) believes the domino theories are too simplistic. He proposes the term unsrrfe act also be eliminated. He suggests the chief culprits in accident causation are less-than-adequate safety policies, standards, and procedures and inadequate implementation accountability systems. Manuele attempts to pull different causation theories together into one working theory. His approach also incorporates some of the following ideas. 

The first steps in being able to prevent accidents from propagating is to understand the combination of factors that can initiate them, and what causes them to escalate [Ontario 1999]. The generally accepted theories of accident causation, for example Heinrich s domino theory [Heinrich 1931] and Reason s organisational accident theory [Reason 1997] may use different terminology, but they do all have common themes ... 

Let us briefly look at the contrast between the multiple causation theory and om too rarrow interpretation of the domino theory. We shah look at a common accident a person falls off a stepladder. If we inveshgate this accident using some cmrent accident investigahon forms, we are asked to idenhfy one act or one condihon ... 

In 1986, Frank Bird and George Germain [1] used Heinrich s [4] model to develop another accident causation model (Figure 12-8). This model used the same domino theory to show its key concepts of loss control. 

Heinrich advocated a multidisciplinary approach to safety, focused on engineering, psychology, management, and salesmanship. The emphasis on psychology supported his theory that the majority of accidents were caused primarily by the unsafe acts or behavior of employees— the axiom on which his prevention philosophy was based. This axiom was central to Heinrich s domino model of accident causation, which depicted five dominos lined up in a sequence. As we discussed in Chapter 12 (Figures 12-7 and 12-8), unsafe acts/conditions were placed in the central position, preceded by inherited or acquired personal faults, and followed by an inci-... 

Figure 12-8 The domino theory loss causation accident sequence model. Cox. Sue. Tom Cox, Safety Systems and People, Figure 3.2 (adapted from Bird and Loftus, 1931), p. 52, Butterworth-Heinemann, 1996. Modified with permission.

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