Common Causes of Workplace Accidents
What is a Work-Related Accident?
A work-related accident is any unintended event that occurs in the course of the work (excluding the domestic work) that leads to the injury or the condition.
It can also be the Dangerous Occurrence, the Occupational Disease or:
- The Traffic accidents that occur at the workplace or in the course of the work, e.g. the traffic accident while commuting to work on the company transport.
- The Accidents that are incidental to or from the work, e.g. slipping and the falling within the workplace but when not performing the official work duties.
- Conditions of the medical nature, such as the heart attacks or the strokes, that may be triggered by work.
In thinking about the accidents it is critical to concentrate on the accident phenomenon rather than the outcome. The Accidents have primary causation and the secondary causation. The Primary causes are the unsafe acts and the conditions;
The secondary causes usually take the form of the systems failures. The primary cause of an accident—the unsafe act or the condition—is not fundamentally the most prominent feature. Secondary the causes will persist unless the action is taken to correct them.
As noted above, accidents are the direct result of the unsafe acts or the conditions. Unsafe
acts include:
- Working without the authority;
- Failure to warn the others of the danger;
- Using the dangerous equipment;
- Using the wrong equipment;
- Failure to issue the control measures.; and
- Horseplay and the like.
Unsafe Conditions Include:
- The Inadequate or the missing machine guards;
- Defective tools or the equipment;
- The Fire hazards;
- The Ineffective housekeeping;
- The Excessive noise; and
- The Poor ventilation and the lighting and others.
- The secondary causes of the accidents include social and the management system pressures.
- Management System Pressures Include:
- The Financial restrictions;
- The Lack of the commitment; and
- The Lack of the policy, standards, and/or the training.
- The Social Pressures Include:
- The Group attitude;
- The Trade customs;
- The Tradition;
- The Society attitudes and risk-taking; and
- “Acceptable” behavior in the workplace.