Work-related accidents types

The OSHA incidence rate provides information on all types of work-related injuries and illnesses, including fatalities. This provides a better representation of worker accidents than systems based on fatalities alone. For instance, a plant might experience many small accidents with resulting injuries but no fatalities. On the other hand, fatality data cannot be extracted from the OSHA incidence rate without additional information. 

Decision-makers have sometimes found presentations of comparative risk information a useful aid to the public discourse on risk acceptance. We referred in the last section, for example, to OSHA s use of statistics on the risks of job-related accidents to support decisions on risk reduction goals for workplace carcinogens. The agency noted that lifetime risks of death from injuries suffered in what most people perceive to be safe occupations do not go below about 1 per 1000. Data of these types were helpful in explaining why the agency settled on carcinogen risk levels in this range as sufficiently low to provide a safe work environment. 

Accident prevention techniques, such as job hazard analysis, safe operating procedures, and job safety observations, have their application to specific jobs within the workplace. In general, they aim to address and identify existing or potential work-related hazards. These types of accident prevention techniques are emphasized in this book. Most books addressing accident prevention techniques usually emphasize specific job hazards and their prevention, such as fire safety and machine guarding. This particular book places only minor emphasis on specific job hazards. 

The FAFR for certain types of work can be found in Table 1.1 these values are for Great Britain. Since for every 400 - 500 work-related injuries (those for which reports are complusory) one fatal accident occures, the likelihood of being injured in an accident can be estimated. 

Another discrepancy arises when the type of work accident is concerned. In some records the on-job accidents are counted only, traffic accidents on the way to or from work being excluded. Also, the treatment of traffic accidents as work accidents appears to be unequivocal. In West Germany, 25 % of all traffic accidents are work-related (Skiba 1985), i.e. travelling business persons as well as professional drivers are involved. Occupational traffic accidents are included both in West Germany s work accident records and in the traffic records, whereas in most other countries they are not counted twice. 

Once hazards have been examined, rated, and ranked by the committee, some plan of action for their control should be developed either by the committee or by company management. The results of the hazards review by the committee tmd the action to be taken should be fed back to employees. Experience using this type of program indicates that for every 100 hazards reported, 1 is very serious, needing immediate action, 24 require attention quickly to avert a potential accident, 50 require some minor action to improve the quality of working conditions but do not concern a serious hazard, and 25 concern gripes and hassles of employees that are not related to safety hazards. 

Despite all the safety precautions taken on construction sites to prevent injury to the workforce, accidents do happen and you may be the only other person able to take action to assist a workmate. This section is not intended to replace a first aid course but to give learners the knowledge to understand the types of injuries they may come across in the workplace. If you are not a qualified first aider limit your help to obvious common-sense assistance and call for help, but do remember that if a workmate s heart or breathing has stopped as a result of an accident they have only minutes to live unless you act quickly. TTie Health and Safety (First Aid) Regulations 1981 and relevant approved codes of practice and guidance notes place a duty of care on all employers to provide adequate first aid facilities appropriate to the type of work being undertaken. Adequate facilities will relate to a number of factors such as ... 

There are about seven deaths each year due to work in excavations and these are often related to the composition and structure of the soil which forms the walls of the excavation. Many types of soil, such as clays, are self-supporting but others, such as sands and gravel, are not. The walls of excavations can collapse without any warning resulting in death or serious injury. Many such accidents occur in shallow workings. It is important to note that, although most of these accidents affect workers, members of the public can also be injured. 

Measurements of causes relate to the factors that lead to accidents. They include both immediate causes, such as substandard acts and substandard conditions, and their underlying causes, such as individual and work factors. Individual factor causes include inadequate knowledge, skQl, motivation, and capabihty. Work factors include such things as inadequate training, supervision, design, purchasing, inspections, and so forth. If not controlled, the two types of causes—immediate and underlying— can lead to accidents. 

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