Industrial Accident Prevention: History

During the past 50 years safety has played an increasingly important role in defining operational standards in industries all over the world. The fact that safety now plays such an important role in legislative and operational standards is a reflection of the demand from society that all activities should be free from risk to the worker or at least kept at tolerable levels of risk.

A certain level of risk is inherent in every activity in the workplace. Tolerating some level of risk is necessary, but to protect against unwanted loss such as injury, property damage or production downtime, risks must be eliminated, transferred, controlled or tolerated.

This worldwide trend is emphasised by the fact that the International Labour Organisation first accepted a convention on protection against accidents on 21 June 1929. This convention, Convention C28, was aimed at reducing accidents during work performed on shore or on board ships whilst loading or unloading any ship. This convention was revised twice since then, first in 1932 with the introduction of convention C32 and again in 1997 when convention C152 was passed. The International Labour Organisation also accepted the following conventions relating to health and safety:

¨ A convention for safety provisions for buildings, convention C62 in 1937,

¨ A convention on the prevention of accidents associated with seafarers, convention C134 in 1970,

¨ A convention on occupational health and safety, convention C155 that applied to all branches of economic activity in 1981,

¨ A safety and health in construction convention C167 in 1988,

¨ A convention on the prevention of major industrial accidents, convention C174 in 1993,

¨ A safety and health in mines convention C176 in 1995.

In addition to these conventions, the International Labour Organisation also accepted a number of conventions dealing with occupational health and occupational medical examinations.

This international emphasis on safety and health is also reflected in the in the South African mining industry new Mine Health and Safety Act, 1996 (Act No. 29 of 1996).

In this Act the emphasis was altered to make it clear that reducing or eliminating risks would improve safety. Design, control or management could be used to reach the desired level of risk reduction for identified hazards. In practice a combination of these approaches is called for.

The decriminalisation of accident investigations was given direction with the inclusion of Section 63 in the Mine Health and Safety Act, 1996 (Act No. 29 of 1996) that attempted to increase the effectiveness of investigations by making it possible for the Chief Inspector of Mines, in consultation with the Attorney General, to issue a certificate of non-prosecution under certain circumstances. Despite the inclusion of this section the inspectors did not make use of it, as there was no formal accident investigation methodology in use in the mining industry that effectively identified the fundamental contributing factors of accidents.

Most industrial accidents result from factors that are constantly present for weeks, months, or even years. It is only a matter of time before the event will occur. This state of affairs was addressed by the developing of the fundamental contributing accident investigation model. It was determined that knowledge of fundamental contributing factors influenced decision-makers to seek to avoid taking the risk that such events will occur.

n companies where the culture is such that employees are allowed to take risks, it is likely that the attitude towards accidents is that "accidents just happen and there is nothing we can do about it." This type of attitude is not conducive to an effective safety culture. Employers with a healthy attitude towards risk will require the pro active correction of fundamental contributing factors.

To conduct an effective accident investigation, the factors contributing to an accident, as well as ways and means to prevent accidents, must be clearly understood. The fundamental contributing factors largely contributed to resolve this problem.

© 2009 Carl Marx