Incident reporting accidents

Ron C. McKinnon, CSP, is an internationally experienced and acknowledged safety professional, author, motivator, and presenter. He has been extensively involved in safety research concerning the canse, effect, and control of accidental loss, near-miss incident reporting, accident investigation, and safety promotion. 

Contracts or associated documents normally specify that the toller will report accidents, incidents, releases and agency inspections to the client as soon as practicable or within a specified time frame. This is particularly important if these involve injuries, offsite consequences, or damage to property resulting from work performed for the client. The toller should also be requested to provide their client with copies of any reports sent to regulatoiy agencies for these occurrences. 

The incident report stated that the cause of the accident was human error. Although maintenance procedures were available, they had not been used. The... 

Emphasis for prevention will be on changing individual behavior by symbolic or tangible rewards based on statistical evidence from the data collection system. "Hard" performance indicators such as lost time incidents will therefore be preferred to "softer" data such as near-miss reports. Accident prevention will also emphasize motivational campaigns designed to enhance the awareness of hazards and adherence to rules. If a severe accident occurs, it is likely that disciplinary sanctions will be applied. 

The DS team spent one session compiling a list of the documentation requirements that they were aware of from their individual experiences. This documentation ranged from vessel details and drawings to accident/incident reporting to MSDSs to safety procedures. Many different departments and functions were involved. Some documentation was kept in hard copy form, while the rest was in electronic form but on several different systems. The... 

For instance, in the area of accident/incident reporting for releases alone, there were reports required by six different federal government programs ... 

These reports were in addition to the internal reporting for OSHA PSM and various local or state requirements. While Quality Chemical had long ago consolidated a number of these programs, there were still four different accident/incident reporting systems—one for external reporting of releases, one for external reporting of injuries and other nonrelease events, one for a corporate-wide database and one for each site itself. 

If the incident constitutes a reportable accident as defined in legislation the plant engineer will also ensure that the incident is immediately reported to the Factory Inspectorate. The Inspectorate will decide whether they wish to carry out an enquiry and, particularly if there has been loss of life, the accident site may be compulsorily isolated. Unless this is so, investigation by the insurer or a loss adjuster acting on his behalf may proceed. 

Reason J., 1991. Too little and too late a commentary on accident and incident reporting systems, in Schaaf van der, et al. (Eds.), Near miss reporting as a safety tool, Butterworth Heinemann, Oxford. 

IChemE Accident Database Reports about chemical incidents around the world from official government sources, the news media, and company reports 1980-Present Scope is beyond incidents reported to or investigated by regulatory agencies or first responders Contains lessons learned from 3,000 incidents Only one-fourth of the 12,000 incidents in the database contain lessonsdeamed information... 

Safety Handbook", Part III. Hazardous Compounds, Mixtures, and Reactions, Expl Res Sect, Expls Propints Lab, Pica tinny Arsenal, Dover, NJ (Dec 1959), pp 33-46 (List of compds, mists, and reactions which are, or may be, dangerous) 5) "Explosive Accident/lncident Abstracts" (A compilation listing description, causes preventive measures of 219 expl incidents reported to the Armed Services Explosives Safety Board by companies, governmental agencies other groups from Sept 1961 thru June 1967. The Abstracts are available as ASTIA Document 660020 from die National Technical Information Service, US Dept of Commerce, PO Box 1553, Ravensworth, Va 22151)... 

Notification of plant emergency personnel should be considered if a N-E-L is reached. A formal investigation must be conducted and an accident/incident report written. 

Reactive Chemicals Accident - An uncontrolled or unexpected chemical reaction that results in injury, property loss or environmental release. Reports must be entered into the Global Incident Reporting Database... 

In residents of Seveso, Italy, a significant rise in the incidence of birth defects, as compared to pre-accident levels, was observed the year after the accident (Bisanti et al. 1980). A variety of birth defects were observed, but the incidence for any particular defect was not elevated. The authors suggest that the rise in birth defects may not be related to 2,3,7,8-TCDD exposure. Prior to 1976, birth defects in Italy were usually under reported the authors note that the reported incidences of birth defects after the accident (23 per 1,000 births) were similar to incidences reported in other western countries. Thus, the increased incidence may be reflective of the increased reporting rather than an increased number of birth defects. In a study which assessed the risk of birth defects for the 6-year period after the Seveso accident, no increases were observed for the risk of total defects (RR of 1.2, 90% Cl of 0.88-1.64 for zones A and B and RR of 0.97, 90% 0=0.83-1.13 for zones A, B, and R), major defects RR of 1.02, 90% 0=0.64-1.61 for zones A and B and RR of 0.83, 90% 0=0.67-1.04 for zones A, B and R), and minor defects RR of 1.44 90% 0=0.92-2.24 for zones A and B and RR of 1.14, 90% 0=0.92-1.42 for zones A, B and R) (Mastroiacovo et al. 1988). The small number of observed birth defects limits the statistical power of this study to detect significant increases in a specific defect. 

This chapter starts with a discussion of the usefulness of incident reporting systems (of accidents and near misses) and then goes on to compare accidents versus near misses with the help of a qualitative iceberg model Next, three different purposes to collect and analyse such incidents are outlined. Finally, several methods to collect near misses in a variety of settings are presented. 

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