Introduction

What accounts for most workplace accidents?

Earlier, we talked about the importance of understanding the nature of workplace hazards that are manifested primarily as hazardous conditions, unsafe work practices, and ineffective administrative controls. Which of these three categories result in the most accidents?

Unfortunately hazardous conditions alone account for as little as 3 percent of all workplace accidents. Yet, most of the time we look primarily for unsafe conditions when conducting a walk-around inspection. OSHA inspections are geared toward discovering unsafe conditions also. It's very possible that your company could conduct an inspection on Tuesday, and a fatality occur on Wednesday as a result of unsafe work practices that were not uncovered during the inspection the day before.

Poor or missing safety management system components account just about 98% of all workplace accidents. However, there are instances when system weaknesses are working and cannot be judged as the root cause for an accident:

• The accident results when the employee makes an informed decision to intentionally violate a safety rule;
• The accident is what is termed an "act of God" (lightning, etc.);
• The accident is the result of an illness/disease which is unknown by the employee and not observable by management.

• Inadequate supervision. The employer fails to adequately supervise employees;
• Inadequate education/training. The employer fails to adequately train employees;
• Inadequate accountability. The employer fails to enforce compliance with safety rules and policies;
• Inadequate resources. The employer fails to provide adequate resources such as tools, equipment, facilities.

Hazardous conditions.

1. Materials. Raw materials such as chemicals, wood, metals, fibers, and plastics may present hazards.
2. Equipment. Tools, portable equipment, stationary machinery...anything that moves is hazardous.
3. Environments. Physical - Atmospheres, noise, temperature, ergonomics. Psychosocial - inadequate time, unreasonable schedules, unobtainable goals, other employees can create a high level of anxiety, distress leading to illness.
4. People. Lack of training, inadequate physical/mental ability, distraction, misuse of drugs, etc. can all create "walking hazardous conditions."
5. Systems. Safety management systems in which programs, policies, plans, processes, and procedures are either missing or inadequate.

Unsafe behaviors.

• Managers unintentionally create hazards or exhibit unsafe behaviors. This is the most common reason management-level hazardous conditions and unsafe behaviors exist. Inadequate education and training, unreasonable work loads or other pressures may prevent top management from formulating adequate safety systems, middle management from implementing them, and supervisors from overseeing the implementation on a daily basis.
• Managers intentionally create hazards or exhibit unsafe behaviors. I want to think this never happens, but the truth is...it does. However, it's probably quite rare. It usually takes the form of "ignoring" established safety policies and rules: a conscious choice by the supervisor or manager. A more serious situation arises when a supervisor or manager directs an employee to perform an action that creates a hazard or exposes the employee to an existing hazard without proper protection.

System Design and Implementation

• The vision statement. Tells the world who the company is. Describes its culture...personality.
• The mission statement. Tells the world why the company exists. It's purpose. What it does.
• Objectives. Intended outcomes that support the mission and vision.
• Policies. General guidance formulated and implemented by managers at all levels.
• Programs. Describe coordinated strategies that support policy.
• Plans. Give clear written (formal) guidelines on how to implement programs and policies.
• Processes. Make sure safety is integrated into operational processes.
• Procedures. Ensure concise formal/informal step-by-step instructions.
• Budgets. Support investment in all of the above.
• Reports. Reflect process and results measures. Evaluates effectiveness of all the above.
• Rules. Clearly state specifications and performance standards.

Two important tools to identify hazards

Your ability to identify hazardous conditions and unsafe work practices can be very effective if you are given the correct tools. We'll talk about two such tools below.

The first important tool is rather obvious: It's the safety inspection or audit. Three important points should be remembered when conducting the safety inspection:

• Know what you are doing. Only trained individuals should conduct safety inspections. They should be aware of the different types of hazards in the workplace. Unsafe materials, tools, equipment, work station design, noise, atmospheres, temperature extremes, and work practices should be evaluated. The inspector should know what to look for, and how to look for it. Get trained.
• Allow enough time to conduct a thorough inspection. The more time you give to complete the safety inspection, the more likely you'll uncover that hazard waiting to injure someone. Actually, a short inspection conducted once a quarter by an untrained safety committee member or supervisor may not be worth the time spent to conduct it.
• Use a checklist.

Advantages. Checklists, when properly constructed help you inspect for hazardous conditions and unsafe work procedures in a structured, systematic manner. If a checklist is not used, it's more likely that quality will suffer over time. Without a checklist, the conduct of the inspection will vary widely from person to person, depending on their expertise.

Disadvantages. Simply put, checklists take time to construct: time you may not have. But the long-term advantages far outweigh the short term effort. A second disadvantage is that using a checklist might cause the dreaded "tunnel vision" syndrome when an inspector overlooks a hazard in the workplace because it was not addressed in the checklist. The cure for this common disease is to merely place a "catch-all" question into the checklist that asks if there are any other hazards that need to be corrected.

Job Hazard Analysis...a better tool

The Job Hazard Analysis or "JHA" is a less used procedure to identify and control hazards in the workplace, but it is considered far more effective in reducing injuries and illnesses. The JHA procedures go something like this:

1. The supervisor and employee get together and talk about doing a JHA.
2. The employee works through about five or more cycles of a task;
3. The supervisor records what the employee does;
4. The supervisor and employee break the job down into distinct steps;
5. They analyze each step for hazardous conditions and practices;
6. They think up ways to correct the hazards in each step;
7. They devise ways to work safely in each step;
8. They write an improved safe work procedure for the job.

The JHA is far more effective than the walk-around inspection because it systematically identifies hazardous work conditions and unsafe work practices. The safety inspector conducting a traditional safety inspection may not take the time necessary to watch every job being performed in the area he or she inspects. Consequently, many unsafe work procedures are not discovered. The Job Hazard Analysis does require the time necessary to uncover unsafe work practices and procedures.

"What?" you ask... The OSHA 300 Log? What is it good for? The OSHA 300 Log is probably the best statistical tool you have in analyzing hazardous conditions and unsafe work practices. More than 25 important injury and illness trends have been identified using the OSHA 300 Log.

Take a look at each column of your company's OSHA 300 Log and ask Who, What, Where, When and How about each. Take the information you gain from this analysis to draw conclusions about where your greatest effort needs to be directed. Most lost workday claims are due to strains and sprains. Your OSHA 300 Log may reflect this trend. At any rate, analyzing the OSHA 300 Log allows you to act on facts, not hunches.

Think about this too: When an OSHA compliance officer comes inspecting, he or she will review your OSHA 300 Log. It will identify exactly where accidents are occurring and what kind of injuries and illnesses are happening. At that point the compliance officer knows where to put emphasis in the inspection. Make sure all hazards identified on the OSHA 300 Log are corrected!

Final word

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