Preventing occupational accidents/incidents

You can expect many benefits from preventing occupational accidents/incidents. Some of the benefits you might expect are... 

It is highly significant that the European Union declared that Risk assessment is the cornerstone of the European approach to prevent occupational accidents and ill health. That statement is foundational. If risk assessments are poorly done or not done at all, dormant incident... 

BBS cannot be viewed as the panacea or end-all solution for the prevention of accidents/ incidents, but only as one tool in the arsenal of tools, and it does not supplant a complete and organized overall approach in addressing occupational safety and health issues of today. All the components discussed in this book must be in place, such as training, safety and health program, accident/incident analysis, safety engineering, controls, interventions, etc. It is only then that BBS can become an integral part of the occupational safety and health initiative. 

Prevention of occupationally related accidents/incidents is the law. The Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 (OSHAct) requires employers to provide a workplace free from hazards that could cause serious harm or death. Beyond that, it makes good business sense to prevent accident/incidents. More and more companies have come to realize that the OSHAct is a helpmate, not a hindrance, to their acddent/incident prevention initiative. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSH A) sets the foundation and assumes the role of law enforcer, allowing the employer to not be viewed as the bad guy to his or her employees. Employers can deflect responsibility to OSH A. 

Many companies conduct accident investigations and keep accident records and other data on the company s safety and health initiatives. If a company has a sufficient number of accidents/incidents and enongh detail in their occupational injury/illness investigation data, the company can begin to examine trends or emerging issues relevant to their safety and health intervention/prevention efforts. The analysis of this data can be nsed to evaluate the effectiveness of safety and health at various workplaces, jobsites, or for groups of workers. The safety and health data can be used by a company to compare to that of other companies that perform similar work, employ a comparable workforce, or compete in the same kind and size of market on a state, regional, national, or international basis. 

The analysis of industry-related hazards and the accident/incidents they cause are an important step in the overall process of reducing occupation-related injuries, illnesses, and deaths. Only after a systematic look at the hazards and accidents can you hope to integrate the accident prevention techniques and tools that can have an impact on a company s safety and health initiative. 

Each accident/incident should be methodically analyzed using an accident investigation/root cause analysis approach. Because many root cause analysis methods exist, it will be the investigator s responsibility to select the appropriate analysis approach (e.g., barrier analysis). Use of proper accident/incident investigation methods and tracking will lead to intervention, which will successfully prevent further occurrence of these occupational accidents and incidents. 

Accident/Incident Prevention Techniques, Second Edition is based on the premise that all types of businesses and industries must face the reality that accidents and incidents that result in occupational injuries and illnesses will in most cases transpire at their business or facility. The results of these events have economic, legal, and human impact on the company s bottom line. In most situations, the impact is usually negative. 

Thns, Accident/Incident Prevention Techniques provides the plethora of techniques and tools needed to structure a prevention approach to meet the needs of corporations and companies. These techniques are those that have been found to work in the past, as well as an intermingling of the best theoretical methods. It is laced with practical examples and tools to help those responsible for occupational safety and health develop the best prevention initiative for them and their workforce. 

A root cause analysis is not a search for the obvious but an in-depth look at the basic or underlying causes of occupational accidents or incidents. The purpose of investigating and reporting the causes of occurrences is to enable the identification of corrective actions adequate to prevent recurrence and thereby protect the health and safety of the public, the workers, and the environment. Every root cause investigation and reporting process should include five phases. While there may be some overlap between phases, every effort should be made to keep them separate and distinct. The phases of a root cause analysis are... 

Dr. Reese is also the principal author of the Handbook ofOSHA Construction Safety and Health (Second Edition) Material Handling Systems Designingfor Safety and Health Annotated Dictionary of Construction Safety and Health, Occupational Health and Safety Management A Practical Approach Office Building Safety and Health Accident/Incident Prevention Techniques Industrial Safety and Health for Goods and Materials Services Industrial Safety and Health for Infrastructure Services Industrial Safety and Health for Administrative Services and Industrial Safety and Health for People-Oriented Services. 

Prevention of occupationally related accidents/incidents is the law. The Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 (OSHAct) requires employers to provide a workplace... 

Throughout the years since the advent of the OSHA s regulatory controls, some companies have been more successful than others at preventing worker-related accidents/ incidents. These comparries have placed occupational safety and health on an equal footing with production. They have developed programs, used accident prevention techniques, and applied the principles of motivation to safety. In doing this they often have devised their own unique approach, specific to their industry. One... 

What is the scope of the SHE information system Is the level of ambition limited to meeting regulatory requirements concerning the reporting and prevention of occupational accidents Or is the SHE information system used in a larger context in order to prevent all types of deviations and incidents that may result in accidents and illnesses with injury to personnel, environmental pollution, material damage, reduced production quality, etc. ... 

The term accident often implies that the event was not preventable. From a loss prevention perspective, use of this term is discouraged, since occupational injuries and illnesses should always be considered preventable, and the use of incident has been recommended instead. Therefore, the term accident has generally been replaced by incident however, for the definitions where accident terminology is still utilized, these terms are identified for explanation. 

Because employers and safety and health professionals are faced with multiple causal factors for these occupational happenings, they must utilize multiple approaches to prevent the occurrence of accidents and incidents. These range from prevention program development, to behavioral approaches, acceptable best prevention techniques, sophisticated analysis methods, engineering controls, and personal protection for the workers. The approach taken by employers and safety and health professionals will include a combination of prevention approaches that best meets the needs of then-unique industry or business. The approach nsed will be tailored to meet their needs. 

The contents of this document are dedicated to the thousands of men and women in industry and mines who have died as a result of occupational injuries and diseases, and to the millions who have been and are injured every year in industries and mines around the world. Note If warnings in the form of near miss incidents had been heeded, I am sure a large number of these accidents could have been prevented. 

As a part of an effective Health, Safety, and Environment (HSE) program, a Job Safety Analysis (JSA) has proved to be an effective accident and occupational illness prevention tool in many industries. The JSA, also known as a Job Hazard Analysis (JHA), is a safety management tool in which the risks or hazards of a specific job in the workplace are identified and measures to eliminate or control those hazards are determined and implemented. Most safety programs are considered reactive, an action in response to an incident. A JSA is considered a proactive approach to workplace safety. A JSA is a process of systematically evaluating certain jobs, identifying the hazards or potential hazard associated with each step of the job, and finding effective control measures to eliminate or reduce the risk of hazards and make the workplace as safe as possible, before those hazards have a chance to become accidents. 

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