The significance (or severity) of an event depends upon the consequences suffered and not on the error that initiates it. The error that triggers a serious accident … and the error that is one of the hundreds with no consequences… can be the same error. Human Error, James Reason, Department of Psychology University of…...
Safety Thought of the Week… human errors Read More »
Management’s responsibility for controlling the unsafe acts of employees exists chiefly because these unsafe acts occur in the course of employment that management creates and then directs. Management selects the persons upon whom it depends to carry out industrial work. It may, if it so elects, choose persons who are experienced, capable of, and willing…...
Safety Thought of the Week… Management’s responsibility for controlling the unsafe acts Read More »
Do parents have safety metrics for their children’s safety? Do we put up banners to demonstrate the significance of our children’s safety? I am betting not on both. It is not needed as we naturally VALUE the safety of our children. We may never have the same level of VALUE of safety towards other adults…...
Safety Thought of the Week… my own thoughts this week Read More »
“An operator’s behavior is strongly influenced by their working situation and the human and organizational factors that characterize the situation. If unsafe behavior is noted, the most effective way to prevent it from happening again is to eliminate the conditions that produced it. This implies that time and thought must to given to an analysis…....
Safety Thought of the Week… Think “situation” before sanction Read More »
“If there is the will to achieve, if true accident causes are known and remedies are effectively applied, there can be no question of results. From the point of view of the industrial executive, no innovations are required. He may apply to accident prevention the very same methods that are successful in controlling the quality…...
Defending H. W. Heinrich’s work… Action is the key Read More »
The immediate and proximate causes of industrial accidents such as “falls of persons” are known to lie in two general groups, namely, mechanical or physical and personal. Both causes are controllable by management, and in the case of both, management has an unexcelled opportunity to exercise remedial action. Management further has a strong incentive to…...
Defending H. W. Heinrich’s work… accident causes are controlled by management Read More »
Many these days will decry the concept/practice of “Cardinal Rules” as if they are a bad thing and then suggest that workers go out and identify “Stuff That Kills you” (STKY) which is at the very heart of the Cardinal rules administrative control approach. The belief is that once the serious hazard is identified that…...
Many in our profession seem to be on this kick that “what gets measured gets manipulated”. That is NOT the fault of the metric but rather a very immature (in safety) management group. Go to the finance group and tell them we are going to stop measuring profit and losses, after all, they can’t be…...
Why is the safety profession the only “anit-metric” business element? Read More »
“Dependence must be placed largely on the recognition by management of its moral rather than its legal responsibility for preventing accidents, not only because existing legal requirements are limited in scope, but also because it is a most difficult task to be practical and fair in any attempt by law to achieve wholly safe employee…...
Safety should not be like trying to figure out how to get out of a panic room! Those who have played the group game “panic room” where you try to figure out clues to eventually unlock the door to win, can maybe relate. When we put safety goals in place and do not provide the…...
Safety Management should not resemble a panic room game Read More »
“Much has been said of near accidents—meaning those that produce no injury whatever, although having the potentiality of doing so. These improper occurrences—these defects, slips, and fumbles; these near accidents—because of their proportionately greater volume, present to the capable person who is intelligent enough to take advantage of it, a splendid opportunity to anticipate and…...
Defending H. W. Heinrich’s Work… nearmisses Read More »
“In many cases the same faulty practice is involved, and the reason for existence of the fault is similar, both for accident occurrence and for unsatisfactory production. If it is known as a result of a correct fact-finding job that a particular unsafe practice is chiefly responsible for accident occurrence, it can safely be assumed…...
