Using the Tools Accident Prevention Techniques

Proper guarding and safe work practice could have prevented this accident. 

Many different tools are available to those who have responsibility for occupational safety and health to assist in structuring the safety and health program. Some are administrative techniques others are programs, while some will need to be developed by you. You will find these different accident prevention techniques to be very useful once you learn to make use of them. 

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Chapter 14—Using the Tools Accident Prevention Techniques—The occupational safety and health community has provided many tools to assist us in preventing occupational injuries and illnesses. These tools range from audits to the use of consultants. In this chapter, these tools will be presented along with practical examples of how they can be put to use. Some forms will be provided that can... 

An SOP is only one accident prevention technique or component of any safety and health initiative. There are specific jobs or tasks that lend themselves well to this approach. Make sure that SOPs are used when they benefit the type of work being performed the most, and not as a cure-all for all accidents and injuries. Use them as one of the many tools for accident prevention. 

This book suggests a new approach to engineering for safety that changes the focus from prevent failures to enforce behavioral safety constraints, from reliability to control. The approach is constructed on an extended model of accident causation that includes more than the traditional models, adding those factors that are increasingly causing accidents today. It allows us to deal with much more complex systems. What is surprising is that the techniques and tools described in part 111 that are built on STAMP and have been applied in practice on extremely complex systems have been easier to use and much more effective than the old ones. 

There is nothing earthshakingly new in the accident/incident prevention arena. Basic accident/incident prevention techniqnes espoused in this book have been used and modified over decades. Eew, if any, dramatically new approaches have been devised using more modem techniques. Thus, accident investigation has always been accident investigation, no matter the words nsed. However, the tools and processes utilized for accident prevention have experienced modification and evolution as accident prevention has become an integral part of the loss control initiatives of companies. 

By investigating the various methods and equipment used in system safety applications, the book covers myriad accident/incident prevention techniques, and supplies the illustrations and tools that allow readers to begin to develop and build a safety and health program in their workplace. The author draws on his more than 30 years of experience to supply a template for the development of an effective safety and health program. 

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