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 One of the worst industrial disaster in
Malaysia

Explosion at a fireworks factory, Bright Sparklers

on 7th May 1991 at Sungai Buloh, Selangor
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26 fatality
83 seriously injured

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EFFECTS OF ACCIDENT AND
ACCIDENT CAUSATION
DR. NURLIDIA MANSOR
HEALTH, SAFETY AND ENVIRONMENT CDB1012
SEPT 2016

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Learning Outcome
Industrial Accidents and Causes of Death
Time Lost Because of Work Injuries
Theories on Accident Causation

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What is an Accident?
Discuss with the person on
your right,

Define accident

Name one characteristic of

an accident

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What is an Incident?

Define incident

How different is it from

accident?

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What is an Accident?
An unintended or unplanned
event

Any unwanted event that

causes harm to people,
property, or processes

Characterized by unacceptable
consequences
e.g. injury to persons, damage
to assets
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What is an Incident?

Incident is
any observable human activity
that may be a unexpected
event

that might have had a negative

impact

on the people, property or

process involved.

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Example #1- Struck by a nail
(source: www.osha.gov)

A carpenter apprentice was killed when

he was struck in the head by a nail that
was fired from a power actuated tool.
The tool operator, while attempting to
anchor a plywood form in preparation
for pouring a concrete wall, fired the gun
causing the nail to pass through the
hollow wall. The nail traveled some
twenty-seven feet before striking the
victim. The tool operator had never
received training in the proper use of the tool, and none of the
employees in the area were wearing personal protective
equipment.
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Why do we need to know how
accidents happened?

To prevent accidents we must know why they

happened.
To seek not only the immediate causes but also
the prior conditions and underlying causes of
accidents.
The focus should be on how could similar
incidents/accidents be prevented.

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Nature Of Accidents
Accidents have two components
THE EVENT
The event that is to be
prevented, because if the
event does not take place
there can be no
consequences.
There is also concern for
near misses where there is
no actual damage.
THE CONSEQUENCES
The final loss result in
injury, death, disease, ill
health, productivity/material
damage.
The consequences are not
always immediately
apparent.
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A sinking ship for example will result in
damage, loss of life, reputation,
asset and environmental impact
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Accident Causation Theories

Importance of theories
Accident theories:
Good accident theories
can help identify the
sources of problems,
which can lead to theory is the bridge
targeted prevention between experiment
efforts and practice

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Accident Causation Theories

Think of accidents as
being caused,
rather than occurring by
chance we can break them apart,
apply engineering
techniques,
identify the contributing
factors,
and prevent them from
occurring again

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 Accident Causation Theories
Purpose of theories

and prevention
To aid accident investigation
system
To provide a classification

logical, logical ensure

To assist hazard identification

objective framework investigation
and for hazard is based on
universal identification logical and
system that reasoned
aids analysis arguments
and control

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Accident Causation Theories

Heinrichs Domino theory

Human Error/Factors theory
Accident/incident theory
Systems theory
Combination theory

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Heinrichs Domino theory
Lets guess
what his
theory is all
about

Think about the

Dominoes...
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 Heinrichs Domino Theory
o Established by Herbert W. Heinrich a safety
engineer in 1920s
o One domino can fall and impact others.
Social Environment
Undesirable traits
Unsafe acts or conditions
An accident
An Injury

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 Heinrichs Domino Theory

Ancestry & social environment

Negative character traits inherited (ancestry) or acquired
as a result of the social environment

Fault of person.
Negative traits are the
reason why people behave
in unsafe manner and why
hazardous conditions exist

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 Heinrichs Domino Theory
Unsafe act or condition
Unsafe acts committed by people and mechanical or
physical hazardous conditions are the direct causes of
accidents
Injury.
Typical injuries resulting from accidents
include lacerations and fractures.

Accident.
Accidents that result in injury

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 Heinrichs Domino Theory
Of 75,000 accidents
88% due to unsafe acts
10% from unsafe conditions
2% unpreventable

Each 330 incidents

300 with no injuries
29 with minor injuries
1 with lost-time injury (LTI)

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By-passing safety devices
Failure to wear PPE Unsafe Acts
Wearing unsafe clothing
Failure to secure/to warn
Unauthorized deviation from SOP

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Unsafe Conditions

Defective tools and

equipment
Defective/incomplete
design
Ungrounded
Un-insulated
Improper or inadequate
clothing

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 Heinrichs Domino Theory

Heinrichs theory has two central points:

1. Injuries are caused by the action of

preceding factors.

2. Removal of the central factors denies the

action of the preceding factors and, in so
doing, prevents accidents and injuries.

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Human Factors/Error Theory

The human factors theory

of accident causation
attributes accidents to a
chain of events ultimately
caused by human error.

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 Human Factors/Error Theory

Human factors theory looks at the interaction between:

People-Tools/Technologies-Environment-Job-
Organization

And then looks to see where there are

mismatches that might have led to
accidents or could be fixed to prevent
accidents
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QUESTIONS
What are the differences between Dominoes
theory and Human factors theory?

Can both theories be used in all instances?

Which do you think is suitable in the case of the

deep water horizon tragedy?

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ICEBERG MODEL for Costs of
Accidents

Direct Costs
Immediate costs, easier to
quantify, just the tip of the
iceberg!

Indirect Costs
Hidden costs, hard to
quantify, many times more
than the direct costs.

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 Costs Of Accidents
Monetary Implications:

injury, illness, death.

Damage to property, material, equipment, or

environment.

Can include lost time, production, sales, reputation,

customer base. Investigations, clean-up, litigation,
restitution, etc.
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 Costs Of Accidents
Examples of Direct Costs
Insurance claims
Medical expenses
Lost wages
Disability benefits
Examples of Indirect Costs
Time lost because of the
accident
Training costs for
new/replacement workers
Administrative costs

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Learning Outcomes

Accident & Incident

Why we need to learn how accident occur?

Accident Causation Theories - underlying

messages contained in the different theories,
the similarities and the differences

Cost of Accidents

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