Ole Carstensen

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The Prevention of Occupational Injuries in 2
industrial plants using an Incident Reporting
Scheme

• Ole Carstensen
• Kent Jacob Nielsen
• Kurt Rasmussen

Working on Safety 3rd international Conference
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Background

• Accident or incident analysis is used in
  proactive accident prevention models based on
  different theories of accident causation
• Ex. Safety iceberg assumption

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Objectives

• To introduce an in-depth analysis tool for
  accidents and near-misses in 2 industrial plants
• To investigate whether a higher degree of
  registration and in-depth analysis of minor
  accidents (MI) and near-misses (NS) will have a
  preventive effect on the total number of lost
  time injuries (LTI) in the plants during a 2-year
  period.
• To investigate promoting and inhibiting factors
  for using an in-depth analysis and registration
  system in the companies

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Time Schedule
Post-intervention measurement
Intervention
Pre-intervention measurment
1/1-02
1/7-01
1/7-04
1/1-04
1/7-03
1/1-03
1/7-02
T0
T2
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Intervention

• New registration system
• Registration of Minor accidents and near-misses
• Analyses of the accidents and incidents to
  discover problem areas and taking preventive
  measures.

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Effect measurement

• Analysis of accident data from 1 year before
  study start to 2 years after study start.
• Questionnaire at baseline and 2 years later
• Safety climate,
• Managements commitment to safety
• Interviews (with employees) at baseline and 2
  years later
• Safety practices
• Accident registration
• Occupational accidents
• Safety attitudes

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Material and method
57 of the employees answered the questionnaire
twice
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(No Transcript)
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(No Transcript)
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Results Injury rates
Significant increase plt0,01 in plant A (T0 to T2)
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Results Injury rates
Significant increase plt0,01 in plant A (T0 to T2)
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Results Injury rates
Significant decrease plt0,01 in plant A (T0 to T2)
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Results Questionnaire dataSafety Climate
0-68 (highest best)
Only significant difference plt0,01 in plant B (T0
to T2)
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Results Questionnaire dataManagements
commitment to safety
1-5 (highest best)
Only significant difference plt0,01 in plant B (T0
to T2)
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Results Questionnaire dataWillingnes to report
Incidents
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Results Interviews

• Plant A
• More focus on safety issues
• Increased knowledge on safety
• Changes in attitudes
• More management commitment to safety
• No changes in employees understanding of
  proactive accident prevention and use of analysis
  of MI and NS.

• Plant B
• Same focus on safety issues as before
• Same knowledge on safety as before
• No changes in attitudes
• Same management commitment to safety
• No changes in employees understanding of
  proactive accident prevention and use of analysis
  of MI and NS.

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Conclusion

• It is possible to pursue a preventive strategy
  based on registration and in-dept analysis of
  occupational accidents and near-misses
• A successful implementation of an incident
  reporting scheme (increase in the reporting of
  NMs and MIs, identifying accident patterns
  found in the NM and MI-data), was followed by a
  decline in the incidence of LTIs at a Danish
  metal plant.

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Conclusion

• Key factors in successful implementation
• Top management commitment.
• Willingness to report accidents.
• Effects
• Increased focus on safety
• Improved safety climate scores
• Increased workers perception of management
  involvement in safety