ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, that persons not in his employment who may be affected thereby are not thereby exposed to risks to their health and safety.
Reportable personal injury | Other injury | Non-injury | Accidents per year | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Food manufacture | 1 | 5 | 148 | 11 |
Road haulage | 0 | 1 | 296 | 14 |
Construction | 1 | 56 | 3569 | 87 |
Oil production | 1 | 4 | 126 | 5 |
Hospital | 1 | 10 | 195 | 7 |
An accident is an undesired event which results in physical harm and/or property damage. It usually results from a contact with a source of energy above the threshold limit of the body or structure. (Kuhlman, 1977, p. 5)
Unsafe condition | Unsafe practice |
---|---|
Defective equipment, materials etc. | Using defective equipment |
Poor housekeeping/maintenance | Operation without permission |
Inadequate protective equipment/guards etc. | Rendering protective devices inoperative/not taking precautions needed |
Incorrect loading/location | Operation at wrong speed |
Lack of warning information | Failure to give warning |
Inadequate illumination/ventilation/workspace | Fooling around |
Two vehicles were involved in an accident on the Anytown bypass late last night. X was travelling north and was in collision with another vehicle turning right from the southbound carriageway into a petrol filling station. The driver, Y, of the second vehicle and its passenger, Z, were both thrown from the vehicle, and X was taken to the Hereshire hospital in a critical condition.
Conventional costs | |||
---|---|---|---|
Initial costs | Operational costs | Final costs | |
Site studies | Capital equipment | Closure/decommissioning | |
Materials | |||
Labour | |||
Supplies | |||
Utilities | |||
Structures | |||
Salvage value | |||
Potentially hidden costs | |||
Regulatory | Voluntary (beyond compliance) | Image and relationship costs | Contingent costs |
Notification | Public reporting | Corporate image | Property damage |
Labelling |
Conventional costs | |||
---|---|---|---|
Initial costs | Operational costs | Final costs | |
Site studies | Capital equipment | Closure/decommissioning | |
Site preparation | Materials | Disposal of inventory | |
Permits | Labour | Post-closure care | |
Research and development | Supplies | Site survey | |
Engineering and procurement | Utilities | ||
Installation | Structures | ||
Salvage value | |||
Potentially hidden costs | |||
Regulatory | Voluntary (beyond compliance) | Image and relationship costs | Contingent costs |
Notification | Public reporting | Corporate image | Future compliance costs |
Labelling | Community relations | Customer relationships | Penalties/fines |
Reporting | Monitoring/testing | Investor relationships | Response to future releases |
Monitoring/testing | Training | Insurer relationships | Remediation |
Modelling and other studies | Audits | Professional staff relationships | Property damage |
Remediation | Qualifying suppliers | Manual staff relationships | Personal injury damage |
Record keeping | Annual reports (public) | Supplier relationships | Legal expenses |
Plans | Insurance | Lender relationships | Natural resource damages |
Training | Planning | Host community relationships | Economic loss damages |
Inspections | Feasibility studies | Regulator relationships | |
Manifests | Remediation | ||
Emergency preparedness | Recycling | ||
Protective equipment | Environmental studies | ||
Medical surveillance | Research and development | ||
Environmental insurance | Habitat and wetland protection | ||
Financial assurance | Landscaping | ||
Pollution control | Other environmental projects | ||
Spill response | Financial support to outside groups | ||
Stormwater management | |||
Waste management | |||
Taxes/fees |
Immediate cause | Example | Possible root cause | Possible management failure |
---|---|---|---|
Poor housekeeping | Employee trips over article on floor/Material falls from shelf | Hazard not recognised | Training, planning, layout |
Improper use of equipment | Using side of grinding wheel rather than face, and wheel breaks/Use of compressed air to remove dust from surface causes eye injury | Inadequate facilities/Lack of skill, knowledge, proper procedures | Training of operators and supervisors, operating procedures, enforcement of procedures |
Defective equipment | Electric drill without earth wire/Hammer with loose head/Vehicle with defective brakes | Lack of recognition/Poor design or selection/Poor maintenance | Training of operators and supervisors, maintenance |
Procedures absent | No check for flammable mixture – explosion/No instruction to lock out power before maintenance | Omission/Error by design and by supervision | Operating procedures, training, supervision |
Lack of safety device | Machine has exposed gear – severe cut/No warning horn – person hit by vehicle/No guard rail on scaffold 3 m high | Need not recognised/Inadequate availability/Deliberate act | Planning, layout, design, safety rules, equipment, awareness, motivation, training |
Lack of personal protective equipment | Dermatitis because gloves or protective lotion not used/Foot injury because materials handler not wearing safety shoes | Need not recognised/Inadequate availability | Planning, design, safety rules, awareness, training |
Inattention, neglect of safe practice | Welder picks up hot metal with bare hands/Person walks under suspended load/Broken glass and spillages not cleaned up from floor | Lack of motivation/Poor appreciation of risks | Enforcement of rules, procedures/Training, awareness, motivation |
Cause of primary error | Preventive measures by designer | Preventive measures by supervisor |
---|---|---|
Improvisation | Provide adequate instruction | Ensure procedures supplied to person |
Failure to follow correct procedure | Ensure procedure not too lengthy or cumbersome | Review procedures to ensure appropriate and not difficult |
Procedures not understood | Ensure instructions easy to understand | Ensure person understands |
Lack of awareness of hazards | Provide warnings, cautions and explanations in instructions | Point out precautions that must be observed |
Errors of judgement, especially under stress | Minimise need for making hurried judgements, programme contingency measures | Provide instruction on action under abnormal conditions |
Critical components installed incorrectly | Design components so that only correct installation possible, e.g. asymmetric configurations on mechanical and electrical connections, male and female threads on critical flow systems | Provide instruction on maintenance and repair. Ensure no change from design and do not modify a part to make it fit |
Lack of suitable tools and equipment | Ensure need for special equipment minimised; provide those that are unavoidable and emphasise use in instructions | Ensure correct equipment is available and is used |
Error or delay in use of controls | Avoid proximity, interference, difficult location or similarity of critical controls. Locate indicator above control so that hand making adjustment does not obscure view of indicator. Label prominently | Check equipment during selection and ensure critical controls are easily accessible, easy to select and easy to operate |
Vibration and noise cause irritation and loss of effectiveness | Provide vibration isolation or eliminate noise | Where noise levels cannot be suppressed, provide ear defenders |
Slipping and falling | Incorporate friction surfaces, guard rails or protective harnesses etc. | Determine where safeguards are needed to deal with hazardous locations and ensure their provision and application |
Quality | Environment | Safety |
---|---|---|
Goal is zero defects | Goal is zero breaches of authorisations or environmental regulations | Goal is zero accidents |
Customer complaints | Community complaints | Serious injuries |
Event analysis | Event analysis | Incident analysis |
Documented policies, procedures and work instructions | Documented policy, procedures, work instructions, authorisations and licences | Written policies, procedures and guidelines |
Quality circles, improvement teams | Environment committee, energy management team, waste reduction team, community liaison group | Safety committee |
Empowerment | Employee participation | Employee participation |
Control charts | Run charts, statistical analysis | Statistical analysis |
All nonconformances are preventable | All emissions are preventable | All accidents are preventable |
Internal audits | Environmental audit | Workplace inspections |
Quality training | Environmental training and awareness | Safety training |
Quality records | Environmental records, waste regulatory documents, emission records | Safety records |
Design for quality | Design for environment, design for recycling, control of emissions | Design for safety |
‘Did you take reasonable precautions to prevent an incident such as this from occurring, with the inevitable consequences?’ ‘Were you prepared for such an emergency?’
ISO 14001 (1996) | Eco-Management and Audit Scheme | OHSAS 18001 (1999) |
---|---|---|
Define and maintain procedures for responding to emergency situations | Examine and assess the effects arising from potential emergency situations | Carry out a comprehensive analysis in order to identify hazards and assess risks |
Prepare procedures for preventing/mitigating environmental effects | Take measures necessary to prevent accidental emissions of material or energy | Outline controls to address the hazards and risks identified |
Review applicable procedures after the event | Ensure co-operation with public authorities to minimise impacts of accidents | Establish plans and procedures for emergency situations |
Date | Company | Incident | The costs |
---|---|---|---|
1982 | Johnson & Johnson | Product tamper and recall of 31 million bottles of Tylenol capsules (known in the UK as paracetamol) after an employee injected cyanide into some capsules, resulting in the deaths of seven people. In fact, fewer than 75 capsules were found to be poisoned. Advertising and product distribution were halted. A tamper-resistant pack was designed and the product was relaunched a few months later | In 1991 the families of the seven victims reached an out-of-court settlement with the company. The cost of the recall was estimated at $100 million and $50 million for business interruption losses. The company sued its insurers for $67.4 million in 1986, but lost the case |
1984 | Union Carbide | Liability from the Bhopal incident | Over $527 million |
1986 | Johnson & Johnson | The sale of Tylenol capsules was again suspended after a woman died of cyanide poisoning. Capsules were recalled from 14 countries | $150 million |
1986 | Sandoz | Fire and pollution, Rhine | $85 million |
1987 | P&O | Liability, Zeebrugge | Over $70 million |
1988 | Occidental | Fire and explosions, Piper Alpha | $1400 million |
1989 | Exxon | On 24 March the Exxon Valdez oil tanker ran aground, spilling 250 000 barrels, an amount equal to more than 10 million gallons, of oil into Alaska's Prince William Sound. Efforts to contain the spill were slow as was Exxon's response. The Exxon name tends to this day to be synonymous with an environmental disaster. The incident illustrates how not to respond during a crisis | The clean-up cost the company $2500 million with $1100 million in various settlements. A 1994 court case also fined Exxon a further $5 billion for its recklessness, which Exxon later appealed against. In addition to the direct costs of the disaster, Exxon's image was tarnished, perhaps permanently |
1990 | Perrier | Product recall. Benzene carbon filters intended to remove benzene, a carcinogen, became clogged, and this went undetected for six months. No one suffered as a result of drinking the benzene-contaminated water, but Perrier was forced to recall 160 million bottles from 120 countries. There were contradictory statements from management on the extent and cause of the contamination | Eighteen months after the incident, Perrier's share of the sparkling water market declined from 13% to 9% in the US, and from 49% to less than 30% in the UK. The cost of the recall was $263 million. The company had no product recall and guarantee insurance. The stock price fell (see |
1992 | Commercial Union | Terrorism, Baltic Exchange | $2170 million |
1993 | Heineken | Defective glass, manufactured by Vereenigde Glas, was found to splinter when export beer bottles were opened or transported. The company recalled, destroyed and replaced 15.4 million bottles, warning the public of the dangers through the media. No one was injured | The estimated loss from the incident was $50 million. In 1994, the glass manufacturer agreed to compensate Heineken for an undisclosed sum. The proactive handling of the incident by the company resulted in little initial loss of shareholder value, followed by an increase in value |
1999 | Coca-Cola | When more than 100 Belgian children suffered nausea and headaches after drinking Coca-Cola products, the Belgian Health Ministry ordered the withdrawal of a range of suspect soft drinks produced by the company in Belgium. A similar ban was also made in France and Holland where exports from the Belgian plants are widely sold. It was claimed that the Antwerp factory used the wrong type of carbon dioxide that imparts ‘fizz’, making the drink taste bad, and a fungicide had caused some contamination at its factory in northern France | Coca-Cola recalled 15 million cases of its soft drinks across Belgium, France and Luxembourg, and the company temporarily closed three factories in Europe before revealing that its sales had fallen by as much as 2%. Share prices also declined |
2001 | Bridgestone/Firestone Inc./Ford | The recall of 16 million Firestone Wilderness AT tyres in August 2000 was followed in 2001 by the US Government requesting another 3.5 million Firestone tyres to be recalled for safety checks by Ford, which used them on sports utility vehicles. It was found that the treads on several models were separating from the tyres. The tyres were believed to be the cause of rollover crashes that resulted in 203 deaths and more than 700 injuries. Both companies were forced to take action | Firestone spent more than $350 million for the recall with potentially far more in legal cases. There was also the loss in public confidence of the product. In the 2000 recall, the chief executive refused to become involved and ignored the role of public relations, following Ford's PR policy at the time. Ford then tried to force responsibility onto the tyre manufacturer. The Bridgestone share price dropped by over 50% |
Many businesses fail as a result of various types of major emergency – storm, flood, fire, terrorism, product contamination or pressure group activity. Experience shows that those businesses which have considered potential hazards and prepared response plans, which often need be no more than a few pages in length, have a much greater chance of surviving than those who are unprepared. (Cabinet Office, 2003, p. 13)
A plan which supports the emergency management team by providing them with information and guidelines. (Dodswell, 2000, p. 56)
A formal written plan which, on the basis of identified potential accidents together with their consequences, describes how such accidents and their consequences should be handled, either on-site or off-site. (OECD, 2003, p. 178)
The most effective way to validate the effectiveness of plans (other than real events) is to test and review them regularly. Exercises are a key mechanism for achieving this: to assess the arrangements properly and then to update the plans as appropriate in the light of the experience. (Cabinet Office, 2003, p. 68)