Accident Trends

Using Process Tools, System Evaluation, and Accident Trends to Improve Operational Reliability, Ed Koshka... 

In my view, realistic safety information should form a specific section in a job description. Figure 3.1 is an example of what a safety section in a job description might look like. The acmal information in the safety section of a job description should be derived from a careful analysis of the job, from internal accident data associated with the job, and from global accident trends associated with the job. For the information to help with expectation setting, it needs to be as realistic (accurate) as possible. Furthermore, the organization should not distort or adjust the ratings based on their expectations of how safety management systems are likely to reduce the risks. 

Safety activities — Conduct safety activities to achieve goals (e.g. safety training sessions or other activities that are developed from needs identified based on accident histoiy, accident trending, and identified safety program deficiencies). 

Identify company accident trends so that effective fleet countermeasures can be developed and implemented. 

Organizations can use a variety of processes to analyze workplace hazards and accident causal factors. Hazard evaluations and accident trend analysis can help improve the effectiveness of established hazard controls. Routine analysis enables an organization to develop and implement appropriate controls for hazardous processes or unsafe operations. Analysis processes rely on information collected from hazard surveys, inspections, hazard reports, and accident investigations. This analysis process can provide a snapshot of hazard information. Effective analysis can then take the snapshots and create viable pictures of hazards and accident causal factors. 

Accident Trending (4) All employees fully aware of incident trends, causes, and prevention methods. (3) Trends analyzed and displayed, common causes communicated, management ensures prevention. (2) Data collected and analyzed, and common causes communicated to concerned supervisors. (1) Data collected and analyzed but not widely communicated for prevention purposes. (0) No consistent effort to analyze incident data for trends, causes, and prevention. 

A macro-view—how overall results are measured to determine whether safety efforts are paying off An example of a macro-view standpoint could include the accident trends experienced by a company over the previous year. 

With these activity-based performance measures, there is also a variety of safety metrics that can be used to assess program performance. As identified by OSHA in studies ofVPP organizations, OSHA injury incidence rates, lost work day rates, and workers compensation losses are a few safety metrics that have been correlated to the performance of the VPP criteria activities. These measures can easily be expanded to include unsafe behaviors, accident trends, and near misses. 

Use the data gathered from the accident to perform an accident trend analysis... 

Review accident trends and establish prevention measures. 

AOPAAir Safety Foundation (2004), 2003 Nall Report. Accident Trends and Factors for 2002. 

Changes in safety culture across the industry will be necessary if the accident trends are to be reversed and it will be the clear role of the operators and chief pilots to lead the way and make the changes necessary. 

Unless the system safety shortcomings of the aerial agricrrltrrre industry are addressed, the industry will face the btrrden of significant irtstrrance premitrm increases as the insurers attempt to recover costs, or if the worsening accident trends continue, the prospect of the irtstrrers refusing to rmderwrite the business may become a reality. 

Research conducted by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) in the 1970s suggests that companies with low accident trends show certain attributes more predominately that those with high accident rates. Determined through a questionnaire study of 192 companies (Cohen et al. 1975), these characteristics include a more stable workforce with ... 

Develop within 1 year and implement within 2 years a comprehensive plan for the collection and use of gas and hazardous liquid pipeline accident data that details the type and extent of data to be collected, to provide the Research and Special Programs Administration with the capability to perform methodologically sound accident trend analyses and evaluations of pipeline operator performance using normalized accident data. (P-96-1)... 

Deficiencies in the Research and Special Programs Administration s accident data, particularly with respect to the cause of accidents and a record of whether those involved in pipeline accidents participated in excavation damage prevention programs, precludes effective analyses of accident trends and evaluations of operator performance. 

The occurrence and acceptance of work-related accidents is a reflection of the development of a company s safety culture. This chapter concentrates on accident trends. Because accident trends can be elusive, this chapter also offers some ideas for how to ensure that the reviewer is getting a true picture of the accident occurrences. 

Besides the use of accident trends, other tools can be used to effectively assess culture. A short discussion of some useful tools to determine safety culture development is offered later in this chapter. Later chapters delve into a selected number of these tools in much greater detail. 

How does one determine accident trends The answer to this question may not be as straightforward as one might think however, looking over the various tools in the toolbox, we can begin to get a good view at what has happened in the past. Getting a good feel for the types of accidents that have occurred in the past will tell us a bit about the development of the safety culture. 

Accident trends are important when assessing a safety culture. We need to determine where we are now so that we can plan our moves forward. In order to help determine where safety culture has been and where the culture is at this point in time, the typical starting point and what some people consider to be a primary tool is used—the accident log. This log is like a road map and should be examined carefully. OSHA logs must be filled out properly using current guidelines and acceptable standard industry practices. Being too conservative can cause your business to potentially lose awards. Being too liberal in your interpretation may be considered noncompliant. 

A method that has been used with some measure of success to determine at least what neighborhood the state of a safety culture is in is accident trend analysis. If the causes of accident occurrences can be determined, and those factors that caused the occurrence are avoided in the future, then the likelihood that similar accidents will occur should be minimized. So, the strategic development of safety culture can and will lead to elimination of accident occurrences. 

As mentioned earlier, determining an accident trend analysis should be relatively easy. In principle, at least, it is easy, or it should be however, a variety of obstacles will probably be encountered when trying to determine the current status of safety culture. In the initial chapters, we discussed how an OSHA log can be a guide to potential problem areas. OSHA logs, accident reports, incident investigations, accident review boards, medical records, worker interviews, OSHA citations, and other information can provide a lot of information about safety culture development. 

From this trend analysis, you might be able to pinpoint areas that seem to be begging for improvement. Different clients that I have been involved with had tremendously different accident trends. For instance, I worked with a chemical manufacturer at which 40 percent of the accidents — during a relatively short period time — were experienced by people with less than one year of seniority. This group consisted of about 10 percent of the workforce. These numbers seemed to indicate that an improvement was needed in the orientation, training, and mentoring of new hire workers. 

I have enjoyed some defiiutive results in many of my attempts to perform accident trend analysis. I have also had many disappointments. In general, my disappointment arises when I discover that my attempt to analyze trends is overshadowed by a lack of data. I have found that in many instances there typically is not enough information to form a clear conclusion. The sample base and database are just not large enough. 

Besides the use of accident trend analysis, OSHA has introduced a self-check assessment that can help determine areas of weakness within a safety culture. This assessment goes through what OSHA believes are the key components of a Safety Program. I believe that it would be difficult for a company to complete the self-assessment and find that it did not show the need for substantial improvement. 

The steering committee will gather information pertinent to safety at their company from various sources, analyze the information, and make recommendations for improvement. The types of information that the committee is considering are accidents, accident trend analyses, and comprehensive safety audits. The steering committee s job includes the following tasks ... 

The accident factors listed in the report may well be good candidates for determinants of accident trends but there is little in the report which systematically indicates the relative contribution of each factor. 

M. Stern M. Beauregard, and B. Bragg. Accident Trend Monitoring and Ejqploratory Analysis First Annual Midway Traffic Safety Report, Vol. I, Executive Summary. For National Center for Statistics and Analysis and NHTSA. DTNH 22-80-C-17062, April 19,1982. 

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