Accident investigation toolbox talk: When there is an accident or injury, management wants to know why it happened and the only way to find out is to do a full investigation of the circumstances that caused it and to try to prevent it in the future. This is the reason why we have chosen the topic of “Accident investigation toolbox talk”. Visit Masstoolbox to learn how to handle accident cases.
The manager will almost certainly call me to ask what caused the accident and I'm sure none of you would like to know that I will say, it was due to negative behavior. When an accident happens we should plan all the facts and prevent it from happening again.
This is the reason why we do the investigation of all incidents. When investigating an accident, it should never be done to look for "culprits", the term guilty has no place in an accident investigation, but to discover the causes and prevent a similar situation from happening again and establish a positive safety culture and safe work practice.
Too frequently we have heard from our superiors, even our co-workers, about accidents resulting from unsafe acts/attitudes, disinterest, and poor performance on our own. It means an accident as a result of our behaviors.
It is evident that our way of thinking, our way of acting and
carrying out tasks, whether here in the plant or in our
homes, greatly influences the chances of suffering accidents. Before
continuing, I would like to ask you a question: What do you think is the factor
that causes most accidents?
The cause of the accident accident investigation toolbox talk
As we have seen, the number one factor causing accidents is
the human factor. Most accidents are not caused by machine, equipment, or
tool failure, but by carelessness and improper use of tools and equipment.
I want to say that our behavior greatly the possibility of causing
accidents that result in serious injuries and even death.
We are often aware of the dangers that surround us, however,
we do not act accordingly. We do not take the necessary measures to prevent
these dangers from becoming a sad reality. For example, we often forget to use
our protective equipment knowing that we need it and knowing that we are
exposed to serious injuries or damage to our safety and health, due to the environment
that surrounds us.
Other times it happens that we do not obey the prevention
norms established, only because we think that they are not important. This is
precisely an attitude that sooner or later will cause an accident. I want to
list a series of human acts/attitudes that will increase or decrease the
chances of having an accident. One group is always thinking positively and the
other thinking negatively.
The people who show positive attitudes are the ones who will
most likely never have accidents, while the people with negative attitudes are
involved in accidents quite frequently and worse, they are the ones who cause
accidents that not only to themselves but to the well-being of those around
them.
Among the attitudes that have been determined as negative
and therefore causing accidents, we can mention the following:
- Too much confidence in what is being done,
- Impatience, inability to receive criticism, carelessness, frivolity, alcoholism
- Immaturity, jokes, and indiscipline among others.
These are negative attitudes that we must put aside or try
to avoid. Eliminating this type of attitude from our behavior
contributes to our well-being at all times and in any place. Among the positive
attitudes that help prevent accidents are the following:
- Personal maturity
- Discipline
- Realistic and social attitude
- Attitude of tolerance and kindness towards others
- Responsibility, moderation, impulse control,
- Compliance with established safety rules and regulations
In a few words, we could say that people who care about
accident prevention are people who realize their limitations and weaknesses and
who look around them realistically.
All accidents must be investigated
An accident investigation is about uncovering unsafe
conditions and practices so that similarly caused accidents do not occur. We
can achieve this through:
- A detailed investigation of any injury sustained on the job
- The study or analysis of all accidents without injuries
- The study of the causes that gave rise to the accident and
- Recommending corrective measures to prevent recurrence
The first inspections and investigations of accidents were
done to discover the workplace hazards or unsafe acts and conditions that caused them. In this way, accident investigation was
broadened to include both unsafe conditions and acts.
Many people spend a lot of time discussing whether unsafe
acts or unsafe conditions are, what cause most accidents. We could start a
similar discussion at this meeting if I asked you the same question, but I'm
not going to do that as I don't think we'll come to any practical conclusions.
Records show that many workplace injuries are the result of both unsafe
conditions and acts.
A worker can perform an unsafe act because he does not know the correct way to do it. If a worker has an accident that results in
an injury when investigating the accident. I will tell them what they did wrong
and we will re-analyze the situation so they learn the correct way to do the
job.
With the investigation of accidents, all we try to discover
is why and how they occur, since with this information others can be avoided in
the future. One thing that is never looked for when doing an accident
investigation is the culprit. In accident prevention, there are no culprits but
workers who have to learn to work safely.
Conclusion
Today when we get home, let's take a few minutes and do an
analysis of our behavior. Let's see if we can determine which are the attitudes
that we must put aside and which we must acquire or practice more frequently to
prevent accidents. We can always eliminate negative attitudes and adopt new and
positive ones that will be beneficial for both our well-being and that of our
co-workers.
Always remember that in most cases our inappropriate behavior is the cause of accidents. Let us make an effort to improve our behavior in favor of accident prevention and our well-being, both at work and at home.
