Causes of Accidents

A Partial Requirement to the subject ECE Safety Engineering to Engr. Alma Delos Santos By: Ramos, Regine A. Hernandez, Eugenio Jr.

INCIDENT Vs. ACCIDENT

What is an INCIDENT?
An incident is an undesired event that could (orders) down grade the efficiency of the business operation.

Case #1:
The wrong spare part for a machine was received by a firm, therefore, repair time on a maintenance job was delayed four days. Upon investigation, it was found that an improper number had been typed on the order form.

The incident in this case was the typing of the wrong number on the order form. This was certainly an undesired event, particularly since it delayed the repair four days, which made it downgrading incident.

What is an ACCIDENT?
An accident is an undesired event that results in physical harm to a person or damage to property. If usually the results of a contact with a source of energy above the threshold limit of the body or structure.

Case #2:
The worker was lifting 5gallon cans from a stockroom shelf when it slipped from his grip, falling to the floor and striking him on his right foot, causing immediate swelling and discomfort. The lid of the can broke open allowing chemical to spill out on the floor.

The undesired event in this case was the can striking the workers foot and floor. The physical harm was an injury and, while the extent cannot be determined from the description of the worker was injured. We can also assume that some property damage was involved since the can broke open. The contact with a source of energy involved the falling can with do kinetic energy, which proved to be above the threshold limit of the workers limit of the workers body and cans structure. There is insufficient information to determine whether other injury was inflicted by the can contents.

Case #3:
A worker was using a paint brush to clear the surface of machine parts with an organic solvent, preparatory coating it with a plastic protector. After, working in the heavy odor of the solvents vapors for several hours, he became ill and reported to the first-aid department for permission to go home.

The undesired event in this case was the exposure to the solvent vapors. The physical harm was an illness and while we may not know how serious it was, it is evident that the contact was with a chemical energy that was above the threshold limit of his body.

NOTE:
The term physical harm in this definition includes both injury and disease, as well as adverse mental, neurological, or systematic effects resulting from an exposure or simplification of purpose, the words injury or illness will be used here after in this book to best define the physical harm.

TWO MAJOR CAUSES OF ACCIDENTS:

UNSAFE ACT is an violation of an accepted safe procedure which could permit the occurrence of an accident.
UNSAFE CONDITION is an hazardous physical condition of circumstances which could directly permit the occurrence of an accident.

UNSAFE PRACTICES
1) 2) 3) 4) 5) 6) 7) 8) 9) 10) 11) 12) 13) Operating without authority. Failure to warn or secure. Operating at improper speed. Making safety devices inoperable. Using defective equipment. Using equipment improperly. Failure to use personal protective equipment. Improper loading or placement. Improper lifting Taking improper position. Servicing equipment in motion. Horseplay. Drinking of drugs.

UNSAFE CONDITIONS
1) 2) 3) 4) 5) 6) 7) 8) Inadequate guards or protection. Defective tools, equipment and substances. Congestion Inadequate warning system Fire and explosive hazards Substandard housekeeping Hazardous atmospheric conditions: gases, dust, fumes and vapors. Excessive noise. -allowable 90dB for 8 hrs and 95dB for 4hrs. 9) Radiation exposures 10) Inadequate illumination or ventilation

Accidents are frequently classified according to their types, as indicated: 1) 2) 3) 4) 5) 6) 7) Struck against 8) Contact with Electricity Struck Heat Fall to below Cold Fall on same level Radiation Caught In Caustics Caught on noise Caught between

An axiom in accident prevention is that all accidents have causes and that the great majority of accidents, roughly 99% are preventable. This scheme poses a challenge to the safety engineer whose responsibility is to identify or recognize the 905 and prevent them from occurring. Since the cause of accident itself must have its own cause, they are usually classed as direct or proximate cases, contributory causes and underlying or enabling causes.

Accidental Deaths in the United States

On March 3, 1991 an explosion occurred at an oil refining company in Louisiana, killing four workers. The explosion occurred as three gasoline synthesizing units were being brought back on line after having been down for maintenance. Workplace deaths caused by explosions are not unheard of, nor they are common. Accidents deaths in the United States result from a variety of causes, including the following: -motor vehicle accidents -falls -poisoning -drowning -fire-related injuries -suffocation(ingested object) -firearms

Accidents deaths in the United States result from a variety of causes, including the following: Motor vehicle accidents Falls Poisoning Drowning Fire-related injuries Suffocation(ingested object) Medical complications Air transport accidents Firearms Machinery Mechanical suffocation Impact of falling objects

The National Safety Council periodically computes death totals and death rates in each of these categories.

Statistics for a typical year:

Motor vehicle accidents are the leading cause of
accidental deaths in the United States each year. They include deaths resulting from accidents involving mechanically or electrically powered vehicles (excluding vehicles) that occur on or off the road. In a typical year there are 46,900 deaths in the United States.

 Falls
This category includes all deaths from falls except those associated with transport vehicles. Example: a person who is killed as the result of falling while boarding a bus or train would not be included in this category. In a typical year there are 12,000 deaths in the US from falls.

 Poisoning
This category is divided into two subcategories:
1) Poisoning by solids and liquids. 2) Poisoning by gases and vapors.

 Poisoning by solids and liquids. Includes:

Deaths that result from ingestion of drugs Medicine Widely recognized solid and liquid poisons Mushrooms Shellfish

Does not include:

Poisoning from spoiled food or salmonella

 Poisoning by gases and vapors. Includes: Deaths caused by incomplete combustion (e.g., gas vapors from an oven or unlit pilot light) or from carbon monoxide (e.g., exhaust fumes from an automobile) In a typical year there are 5,600 deaths in the first category and 900 in the second.

 Drowning
This category includes work-related and non-workrelated drowning but excludes those associated with floods or other natural disasters.
In a typical year there are 4,600 deaths from drowning in the US.

 A fire-related injuries
This category includes death from burns, asphyxiation, falls and those that result from falling objects in a fire. In a typical year there are 4,400 firerelated deaths in the US.

 Suffocation (ingested objects)

This category includes death from the ingestion of an object that blocks the air passages. In many such deaths, the ingested object is food. In a typical year are 3,900 suffocations deaths in the US.

 Firearms
This category includes deaths that result when relational activities involving firearms or household accidents involving firearms result in death.
Example: A person is killed in the home while cleaning a firearm would be included in this category. However, a person killed in combat would not be. In a typical year there are 1,600 deaths in this category.

 Others
This category includes deaths resulting from medical complications arising out of mistakes made by health care professionals, air transport injuries, interaction with machinery, mechanical suffocation, and the impact of falling objects. In a typical year there are a total of 14,200 deaths in this subcategories.

B. Accidents Vs. Other Causes of Death

Although there are more deaths each year from heart disease, cancer, and strokes than from accidents, these causes tend to be concentrated among people at or near retirement age. Among people 37 yrs. of age or youngerprime working years accidents are the number one cause of death. Figure 2-3 summarizes the causes of death for persons from 25 to 45 yrs. of age. Notice the leading cause is accidents.

Below shows that accidents represent a serious detriment to productivity, quality, and competitiveness in the modern workplace. Yet accidents are the one cause of death and injury that companies ca most easily control. While it is true that companies might have some success, through such activities as corporate wellness programs, in decreasing the incidence of heart disease and strokes among their employees, their impact in this regard will be limited. However, employers can have a significant impact on preventing accidents.

Figure 2-3
Causes of accidents (ages 25 to 44 years in a typical year)

Accidents---------------------------------------Motor Vehicle---------------------------------Poison(solid, liquid)----------------------------Drowning --------------------------------------Falls----------------------------------------------Fire-related-------------------------------------Cancer-------------------------------------------Heart disease------------------------------------

27,484 16,405 2,649 1,516 1,138 899 20,305 15,879

C . Role of Organized Labor

Organized labor has played a crucial role in the development of the safety movement in the US. From the outset of the Industrial Revolution in this country, organized labor has fought for safer working conditions and appropriate compensation for workers injured on the job. Many of the earliest developments in the safety movement were the result of the long and hard-fought battles by organized labor.

Although the role of unions promoting safety is generally acknowledge, there is a school of thought that takes the opposite view. Proponents of this dissenting view hold that union involvement actually slowed the development of the safety movement. Their theory is that unions allowed their demand for safer working conditions to become entangled with their demands for better wages and, as a result, they met with resistance from management. Regardless of the point of view, there is no question that working conditions in the earliest years of the safety movement were often reflective of an insensitivity to safety concerns on the part of management.

Among the most important contributions of organized labor to the safety movement was their work to overturn anti-labor laws relating to safety in the workplace. These laws were the: Fellow Servant rule the statutes defining Contributory Negligence concept of Assumption of Risk.

Fellow Servant rule held that employers were not liable for workplace injuries that resulted from the negligence of other employees. Example: If worker X slipped and fell, breaking his back in the process, because worker Y spilled oil in the floor and left it there, the employers liability was removed. In addition, if the actions of employees contributed to their own injuries, the employer was absolved of any liability.

This was the doctrine of contributory negligence. The concept of assumption of risk was based on the theory that the people who accept a job assume the risks that go with it. It says employees who work voluntarily should accept the consequences of their actions on the job rather than blaming the employer.

Since the overwhelming majority of industrial accidents involved negligence on the part of one or more workers, employers had little to worry about. Therefore they had little incentive to promote a safe work environment. Organized labor played a crucial role in bringing sometimes deplorable working conditions to the attention of the general public. Public awareness and, in some cases, outrage eventually let to these employer-biased laws being overturned in all states except one. In New Hampshire the fellow servant rule still applies.

D. Human Factors in Accident

Several distinctions in the study of human factors in accidents

a) Between inherent factors and temporary factor resulting from stress, training, etc. b) Between physical and mental or psychological factor c) Between factors of age and sex

An exhaustive study involving more than 2,000 accidents during over a year period in three different factories in UK indicated revealing findings: 1. Men below 5 ft. 9 inches tall, in a dispatch department handling large packages, had significantly higher accident rate. 2. Older workers in a machine shop had lower accident rates than younger workers. 3. Talkative people have higher accident rates than less talkative.

4. Extroverts showed a higher accident frequency rate than introverts in most situations. 5. Employees with longer service in a shop had fewer accidents than those with shorter service. 6. Boredom and monotony in repetitive tasks which were thought to influence accident frequency were no firmly established.

E. Effects of Stress
Stress: A psychological and physical response of the body that occurs whenever we must adapt to changing conditions, whether those conditions be real or perceived, positive or negative. It's also important to note that there are two types of

stress, Eustress (good stress) and Distress (not so good

stress).

Performance Efficiency Versus Stress

The most common kind of stress include:

Feeling of being threatened Too much to do at one time

Loss of sleep
Noise Excessive body temperature

Influence of drug

 Stress may either increase or decrease arousal to or form optimum

Arousal: Arousal is basically being alert, physically and mentally. Various body systems and hormones are involved and contribute to alertness and readiness to move. Arousal allows people to seek the things they require to live, and some people to seek beyond what they require to gain success and skills. People have different levels of arousal, and therefore seek different activities and set different goals.

Different things that affects the arousal level

A. Increase Arousal
1. Coffee 2. Tea 3. Amphetamine 4. Benzedrine 5. Dexedrine

B. Increase Arousal
1. Sleeping tablets 2. Tranquilizers 3. Anti-histamines 4. Benadryl

Appropriate test to determine certain desirable qualities of an employee:

Emotional stability Self-sufficiency

Extroversion
Dominance Confidence

Sociability

Aptitude tests measure characteristics can be placed into three groups

Mental Ability Spatial Ability

Motor Ability

Mental Ability
They are used to find whether a person comes up to certain standards required for a specific job. Some jobs require special alertness, others intelligence, and still others require sociability

Spatial Perception
Spatial perception involves not just good vision. It includes the ability to perceive spatial patterns accurately and compare them rapidly with each other.

Motor Abilities
Motor abilities are generally measured by psychometer tests. These are combined tests of sensory and muscular abilities

Motor Abilities
They are grouped into: 7. Manual dexterity 8. Finger dexterity 9. Arm hand steadiness 10. Wrist finger speed

1. Control precision 2. Multi-limb coordination 3. Response orientation 4. Reaction Time

5. Speed arm movement

6. Rate control

11. Aiming

Working hours and overtime

During the 19th century industrial conditions were unsafe and unhygienic and very long hours of work were very common. Workers were then treated like machines thinking that their productivity was the same during the whole day.

Other studies by H.M. Vernon showed that women working for 12 hours per day experienced two and a half times as many accidents as those working 10 hours a day. Many firms in the Philippines and in some countries still permit their employees to work 60 hours a week including overtime. Some workers also work for straight two weeks with no rest day.

Relationship Between Length of Daily Work and Output

Distribution of accidents during the day:

1. Accident rate is higher in the morning than in the afternoon. Accident peak occurred past mid-morning. 2. Local accident peak occurred before breaks, which may

have the result of fatigue or rush to meet production

targets. 3. At the end of the afternoon, accident peak was less

pronounced and preceded a decline as workers stopped to

work to tidy up at the end of the day.

Distribution of accidents during the day:

4. Shift workers are generally under greater stress than day workers. These are due to the following reasons: a) Their natural rhythm of rest and activity has been

interrupted and are constantly in the process of readapting themselves to different rhythm. b) Night shift workers suffer from fatigue through loss of sleep during daytime due to domestic circumstances.

Rhythm of Rest and Activity

Man has a natural rhythm of rest and activity, commonly monitored by his deep temperature. In normal life, human body temperature rise from about 700 hours to a plateau between 1100 and 1400 hours, thereafter continuing to rise slowly to a peak about 220 hours. The deep body temperature then falls rapidly to a minimum at about 300 hours. The overall variation in temperature of a healthy person is approximately 0.6oC. During range in body temperature of day shift averages 1.1oC, while that of night shift is 0.6oC. Generally, man is more active and productive at a higher body temperature. It is, therefore, no wonder athletes and contestants warm-up before a contest race.