Incident analysis injury incidents defined

An occupational injury is defined as any personal injury sustained by an employee dinring the course of work. All occupational injuries, regardless of their severity, should be reported by an employee to his or her supervisor immediately after the incident. The form used for reporting accidents and injuries should be simple but informative (Figures 1-7 and 1-8). Enough information should be secured from both the injured employee and the supervisor to permit proper analysis of the accident, even at a much later date. 

The concept of risk should be clearly defined and should be included as a major element in the job hazard analysis (JHA) process. Using only loss-related data that is solely based on injuries, incident rates and/or damage does not provide a fioll understanding of the potential for loss-producing events. 

Risk is defined as a measure of human injury, environmental damage, or economic loss in terms of both the incident likelihood (probability) and the magnitude of the loss or injury (consequence) (AICHE/CCPS, Guidelines for Chemical Process Quantitative Risk Analysis, 2d ed., American Institute of Chemical Engineers, New York, 2000, pp. 5-6). It is important that both likelihood and consequence be included in risk. For instance, seat belt use is based on a reduction in the consequences of an accident. However, many people argue against seat belts based on probabilities, which is an incorrect application of the risk concept. 

The origin of the Domino Theory is credited to Herbert W. Heinrich, circa 1931, who worked for Travelers Insurance. Mr. Heinrich nndertook an analysis of 75,000 accident reports by companies insnred with Travelers. This resulted in the research report titled The Origins of Accidents, which concluded that 88 percent of all accidents are caused by the unsafe acts of persons, 10 percent by unsafe physical conditions, and 2 percent are Acts of God. His analysis of 50,000 accidents showed that, in the average case, an accident resulting in the occurrence of a lost-time work injury was preceded by 329 similar accidents caused by the same unsafe act or mechanical exposure, 300 of which produced no injury and 29 resulted in minor injuries. This is sometimes referred to as Heinrich s Law. Mr. Heinrich then defined the five factors in the accident sequence, which he identified as the Domino Theory. Heinrich s work is the basis for the theory of behavior-based safety, which holds that as many as 95 percent of all workplace incidents are caused by unsafe acts. See also Accident Chain Behavior-Based Safety. 

Define the parameters for the incidents to be studied. A definition of a serious injury, suitable to the situation being evaluated, must be established. For instance, a safety professional may define a serious injury as one that results in lost workday cases involving 11 or more, 21 or more, or 31 or more days away from work. If using money values is appropriate in a given situation, cases valued at 25,000 or more, or 50,000 or more, may be selected for analysis. 

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