Accident/incident prevention

Reese, C. D. (2001). Accident/incident prevention techniques. London Taylor Franeis. 

These analytical methodologies where first developed for the petrochemical industry with the intent to reduce the probability and/or consequences of a major incident that would have serious or even devastating impacts on the employees, the public, property (both company-owned as well as offsite), and/or the environment. Extension of these concepts into a more broad application in industry in general could have far-reaching benefits and present certain advantages to an organization s overall accident/incident prevention programs. 

An accident/incident prevention process is as simplistic as it sounds. Within the text of this book the elements are provided for such a process. On the people side of this process, employers must commit themselves and all facets of management. The leadership for this process comes from management. This does not mean that the workforce should not be part of the process. The involvement of employees must be incorporated into the process in order to elicit a commitment and buy-in to the prevention effort. This is an important motivational factor for employees. 

Communication is critical in providing feedback to all involved on areas that have improved and those that need further attention. Reinforcement should be used to convey what has been working effectively to prevent incidents and implement any corrective action while continuing to evaluate. Update and improve the accident/ incident prevention process. 

There is nothing earthshakingly new in the accident/incident prevention arena. Basic accident/incident prevention techniqnes espoused in this book have been used and modified over decades. Eew, if any, dramatically new approaches have been devised using more modem techniques. Thus, accident investigation has always been accident investigation, no matter the words nsed. However, the tools and processes utilized for accident prevention have experienced modification and evolution as accident prevention has become an integral part of the loss control initiatives of companies. 

The major complaint with this concept is that it overlooks the importance of, or contribution to, preventing accidents that unsafe conditions attribute to the numbers of accidents/incidents occurring. When addressing accident/incident prevention, it has never been my personal opinion or contention that addressing only unsafe acts was the cure-all in the accident prevention puzzle. 

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