Prevention of “simple accidents at work” with major consequences

Abstract

The concept "simple accidents" is understood as traumatic events with no more than one victim. In the last 10 years many European countries have seen a decline in the number of fatalities, but there still remain many severe accidents at work. In the years 2009-2010 in European countries 2.0-2.4 million occupational accidents a year were notified leading to 4500 fatalities and 90,000 permanent disabilities each yearThe article looks at the concept "accident" to find similarities and distinctions between major and simple accident characteristics. The purpose is to find to what extent the same kinds of prevention or safety methodologies and procedures established for major accidents are applicable to simple accidents.The article goes back to basics about accidents causes, to review the nature of successful prevention techniques and to analyze what have been constraints to getting this knowledge used more broadly. This review identifies gaps in the prevention of simple accidents, relating to safety barriers for risk control and the management processes that need to be in place to deliver those risk controls in a continuingly effective state.The article introduces the "INFO cards" as a tool for the systematic observation of hazard sources in order to ascertain whether safety barriers and management deliveries are present. Safety management and safety culture, together with the knowledge included in the INFO cards are important factors in the prevention process. The conclusion is that we must look at safety as a part of being a professional in all kinds of jobs and occupations as well as at management level.

Occupational Accidents Assessment by Field of Activity and Investigation Model for Prevention and Control

“…Taking into account the EU actions to reduce the number of accidents, the EU Strategic Framework on Health and Safety at Work 2014-2020 and the National Occupational Safety and Health Strategy for the 2017-2020 periods are further assessed. Analyzing the steps implemented at EU level and Romania's capacity to adapt to the improvement of the fatal and non-fatal accident rate, this section proposes a model for the prevention and control of work accidents in Romania [1][2][3][4][5][6][7].…”

“…The EU Strategic Framework on Health and Safety at Work 2014-2020 provides for the following actions [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8]:…”

“…As a result of the evaluation, we can see that the intensification of the activity of the industries will lead to an increase of the number of occupational accidents. In line with the existing [1][2][3][4][5][6][7] projections, industry will grow, the number of employees will increase or the level of automation will increase; thus, prevention actions are those that need to be implemented at the organizational level. Prevention actions involve avoiding risks, assessing those risks that cannot be avoided, tackling the risks at source, implementing innovation, prioritizing improvement actions, replacing hazardous substances with some less dangerous ones, and implementing global policies that integrate organizational values.…”

“…In order to achieve this assessment between the two EU member states, Romania and Bulgaria, we have selected four fields of activity: agriculture, forestry, and fishing; manufacturing industry; construction; and transport and storage. These areas of activity have been selected because for the EU (Figure 4), agriculture and construction [4][5][6][7] were among the domains with the most accidents; for these domains, Romania registered the most accidents for the 2013-2017 period, and they were also among the areas with the most accidents in Bulgaria [22][23][24][25][26][27]. The cases of accidents for the period 2013-2017 are presented taking into account the employee's gender and age.…”

Analysis of workers' compensation claims data for improving safety outcomes in agribusiness industries

“…The existence of occupational safety hazards amplifies the risk of worker injuries (Bevilacqua et al, 2012;. Workplace safety incidents are classified as major or simple (Jorgensen, 2011(Jorgensen, , 2015(Jorgensen, , 2016. Major safety events result in a high number of injuries and/or fatalities and cause widespread damage to property and the environment (Jorgensen, 2016).…”