Accidents severity rate

Lost time accidents in 1998 there were two lost time accidents, giving rise to a labour accident frequency rate of 0.23 accidents per million hours worked, and a labour accident severity rate of 0.012 work days lost per thousand hours worked. Figures are given each year since 1990. While there is no obvious trend in frequency rates, the severity rate increased to a peak of 0.15 in 1996, and has fallen sharply since then. 

Lost time accidents the lost time frequency rate for employees fell from 7.6 accidents per million hours worked in 1990 to 5.9 in 1998. The accident severity rate for employees has remained relatively constant over the same period at approximately 0.2 days lost per 1000 hours worked. 

Frequency rates tell how many accidents took place per 200,000 hours worked. They do not tell how serious the accidents were. For example, one lost-time accident may involve a day off and another may require 10 days away from work. For this reason, another accident rate was created, called an accident severity rate. To calculate an accident severity rate you need to know the number of work days lost and the number of employee hours worked. The formula for calculating a severity rate is ... 

The Accident Severity Rate (ASR) is the number of lost working days for all accidents occurring per one million work hours ... 

However, even if the RPN is low, but we have a severity rating of 10, that failure mode must be addressed because the effect would be catastrophic (like an air-travel accident or death related to surgery). 

Disabling injury incidence rate Disabling injury severity rate Accident ratio Property damages... 

Unfortunately the measure of safety performance has traditionally been accomplished only by means of accident rates, such as Injury Frequency Rate (IFR) or Severity Rate (SR), that are typically categorized only... 

One or more indices describing incident performance according to various units of measurement (e.g., disabling injury frequency rate, number of lost-time accidents, disabling injury severity rate, number of first-aid cases, or dollar loss). It may also refer to a summary statement describing incident performance. 

The second view is macroscopic. In case more than one event is evaluated, an aggregation of the single events is possible in order to assess the overall effects. If the sample under investigation happens to contain accident and non-accident events, an accident rate or prevention rate can be calculated as ratio of frequency of accidents (or one minus accidents) with a measure by frequency of accidents without the measure. Summary statistics can also be computed in non-accident events by statistically evaluating the indicators defined on the physical level. In comparison to a baseline without measure the change due to a specific safety measure can be evaluated at the desired level of detail. Within the accident group, rates for specific injury severities as well as a fatality rate can be estimated. 

OSHA uses injury and illness rates to assess effectiveness of occupational safety and health efforts. Insurance companies use an experience model to determine good and poor risks for underwriting workers compensation coverage. Accident and injury experience does provide a good indicator about the effectiveness of hazard control initiatives. However, accident frequency and severity rates alone do not always accurately evaluate effectiveness of an accident prevention function. For example, an organization may experience an underreporting of occupational disease cases and hazardous materials exposures (Table 1.21). 

Many workplaces have high accident/incidence and severity rates because they are hazardous. Hazards are dangerous situations or conditions that can lead to accidents. The more hazards present, the greater the chance that there will be accidents. Unless safety procedures are followed, there will be a direct relationship between the number of hazards in the workplace and the number of accidents that will occur there. 

Companies and federal officials frequently utilize the following statistical pieces of information designed to allow the company to compare its safety and health performance with others the incident rate, illness rate, lost workday cases rate or severity rate, and restricted workday case rate. These rates, respectively, answer the questions of How often or frequently are accidents occurring and How bad are the injuries/illnesses that are occurring The number of times that occupational injuries/illnesses happen is the determinant for the incident rate, while the number of days away from work (lost-time workdays) or restricted workdays are the prime indicator of the severity rate. Both of these rates provide unique information regarding your safety and health effort. 

Birmingham crash cushion installations show a 200% rate of return, with a significant reduction in accident severity. 

For years, safety workers have been targeting frequency in the belief that severity would be reduced as a by-product. As a result, in Australia for example, Freqrrency Rates nationwide have been reduced much more than have Severity Rates. One Australian state reported a 33% reduction in all accidents over a period of 10 years while, dttring the same period, the number of permanent partial disability injrrries actualfy increased. (This cotdd have resulted from a statistical recording change rather than arty real improvemerrt in accident rates.)... 

Accident frequency and severity rates are an inadequate means to evaluate the effectiveness of a health and safety plan. Cases of occupational disease are under-reported in these statistics. The emphasis is on injury-producing accidents, not all accidents. Since accidents are a rare event, in small organizations the basis for comparison may be limited. Chance is a factor both in frequency and severity. 

The collection and use of accident and incident data 283 Table 2.5.2 Comparisons using incidence, frequency and severity rates... 

Any simple measurement of performance in terms of accident (injury) frequency rates or accident/incident rate is not seen as a reliable guide to the safety performance of an undertaking. The report finds there is no clear correlation between such measurements and the work conditions, in injury potential, or the severity of injuries that have occurred. A need exists for more accurate measurements so that a better assessment can be made of efforts to control foreseeable losses. 

In a further extension of their study, the researchers analyzed the accidents recorded by the same taxi company during an additional year. No difference in accident or severity rate between ABS and non-ABS vehicles was observed, but ABS taxis had more accidents under slippery driving conditions than the comparison vehicles. A major drop, however, in the overall accident rate occurred in the 4th year as compared with the preceding 3-year period. The researchers attributed this to the fact that the taxi company, in a different effort to reduce the accident rate (this time not by ABS), had made the drivers responsible for paying part of the costs of vehicle repairs, and threatened them with dismissal if they accumulated a particularly bad accident record. 

The objective of this work is to develop a road fatality rate model to illustrate a country s accident severity at the macro (strategic) level. The paper will specifically address the strategic factors affecting road fatality. It will aim to develop a concept of a simple model looking at the effects of strategic factors on road fatality and subsequently apply the model to identify the degree of change in a country s road safety performance. 

TABLE 1.7 U.S. fatalities, nonfatal days lost (NFDL) Injuries, total accident incident rates (IRs), and severity measures for underground and surface mines by sector, 1995 (Reich and McAteer 1997a, b, c, d, e)... 

There are various ways to measure the resuits of work being done to prevent accidents. The effects of having an accident include, for example, injuries, iiinesses, anguish suffering, financial losses, increased insurance costs, poor productivity, absenteeism, production deiays, high labor costs, machinery downtime, and poor community image. Two types of measurements of results are commonly used. The first, and by far the most common, tracks accident frequency and severity rates. The... 

Frequency rate = number of accidents x 200,000 divided by the total employee hours worked. North Americans use 200,000 hours as a base, the Europeans tend to use 100,000 hours, and still others use 1,000,000 hours in their rate calculations. The reason 200,000 hours is used in North America is because it roughly equals the number of hours worked by 100 employees during a normal work year. Using 200,000 as a base makes it easy to estimate the site s frequency rate by simply knowing the number of employees at work. For example, if your site has 200 employees and you had six recordable injuries, you have a frequency rate of about 3 if you had 400 employees with six recordable injuries, you have an accident rate of about 1.5. Commonly used frequency and severity rates are ... 

Property damage severity rates can also be calculated by determining the total cost of property damage accidents x 200,000, divided by the total employee hours worked. 

REASONS FOR USING ACCIDENT FREQUENCY AND SEVERITY RATES... 

There are many good reasons for using accident frequency and severity rates. As mentioned earher, these measurements of results are part of any effective safety management program. When accident frequency and severity rates are properly used, they can lead to an increased commitment to preventing accidents. Several of the most obvious benefits of frequency and severity rates are ... 

There are several ways to overcome these Umitations and put accident frequency and severity rates to good use in your organization. 

Reasons for Using Accident Frequency and Severity Rates 53... 

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