Industrial Accident Prevention
Every year, thousands of people are the victims of industrial accidents. Industrial jobs are some of the most hazardous because of the circumstances the workers are in every day. Industrial workers use heavy machinery and dangerous chemicals that can cause serious injury should anyone be negligent in any way.
An industrial accident is the sudden and expected change in the working order. According to the Factories Act, 1948: “It is an occurrence in an industrial establishment causing bodily injury to a person who makes him unfit to resume his duties in the next 48 hours”. The nature of the industry determines the magnitude of damage and probability of accidents occurring. Such accidents lead to physical or mental occupational injury to the workers or employees.
The primary causes of accidents are unsafe acts & conditions.
• Unsafe Act – The human action that departs from a standard job procedure or safe practice, safety regulations or instructions.
• Unsafe Condition – The physical or chemical property of a material, machine or the environment which could result in injury to a person, damage or destruction to property or other forms of losses.
Causes of Industrial Accidents
There are a number of factors that can lead to industrial accidents, including everything from improper lifting techniques to mishandling hazardous materials. Below are some common causes of accidents in the workplace.
Environmental Causes of Accidents
Accidents which occur from environmental causes refer to those workplace accidents that happen because of the working environment. The environmental factors can be both natural and man-made such as workplace design. Common environmental causes of accidents include:
a. Poor Lighting
Low visibility is a common cause of slips, trips and falls.
b. Ambient Temperature
If a workplace is too hot, overheating can occur. If the workplace is too cold, frostbite or hypothermia can occur.
c. Air Pollution
Breathing issues can develop if a workplace has poor ventilation or air pollution.
d. Sound Pollution
The sound in a workplace can cause injury to a worker’s hearing.
Mechanical Causes of Industrial Accidents
Mechanical causes of industrial accidents are factors that refer to machine or equipment failure or breakdown. Generally, with proper maintenance and safety processes in place, these types of accidents are preventable. Common mechanical causes of accidents include:
a. Broken or Damaged Machine
Parts can be easily broken or damaged if made of poor-quality metal.
b. Power Failure
Total or partial power failure can lead to serious injury.
c. Fire or explosion
Cooling failure or a small spark can lead to a mechanical fire or explosion.
Human Factors That Cause Accidents
Accidents caused by human factors refers to incidents in which the accident is directly attributed to the worker involved in the accident. Common human factors that cause industrial accidents include:
a. Poor Housekeeping
An unkempt workspace can lead to slips, trips and falls.
b. Fatigue
When a body is tired, injury is more likely to occur.
c. Overexertion
Overexertion injuries are the most common type of workplace injury.
d. Stress
Workers who are stressed are often more distracted and of greater risk of injury.
e. Dehydration
It is important to consume enough water to ensure you body functions properly.
f. Improper Lifting
Lower back strains and shoulder injuries are common among workers who use improper lifting techniques.
Common Types of Industrial Accidents
Industrial workers must adhere to strict safety protocols. They must use proper safety equipment and receive training on all machinery. When workers or managers fail to follow safety protocols, deadly accidents can occur. Some of these accidents include:
• Explosions and fires at chemical plants and refineries
• Offshore drilling rig accidents
• Defective work equipment accidents
• Electrocution
• Scaffolding or crane accidents
• Gas exposure
• Toxic chemical exposure
• Falls
• Machinery accidents
• Falling objects or materials
• Motor vehicle accidents in energy-producing areas
Effects of Industrial Accidents
If there’s an accident in your workplace, it can lead to several monetary, physical and emotional impacts for you and your employee.
Workplace injuries can result in:
Physical Injuries: It includes loss of limbs, burns and trauma. The effects of these injuries can be permanent and life-changing and could result in temporary or permanent loss of an employee. As an employer, you invest a lot of time and money training your employees to carry out their duties safely. Therefore, losing a trained employee due to a workplace accident can cost you significantly. On top of this, you could also be liable to cover sick pay, medical costs and compensation.
Psychological Repercussions: A workplace injury can have significant psychological impacts on the affected employee, including anxiety, stress and depression. This might result in an employee having to take time away from work. Therefore, you could have to cover the costs of sick leave and hiring interim staff.
Loss of Morale: Workplace accidents can result in a significant decrease in morale, both for the injured employee and their co-workers. It may also decrease trust in your leadership and could affect the positive culture you should be promoting. A loss of morale can in turn, decrease work performance which can impact your turnover.
Increased Costs: A workplace injury could leave you with legal fines, compensation, increasing insurance premiums, temporary staff costs, hiring costs and reduced profit from decreased performance.
Why is it important to prevent accidents?
Accidents, which usually happen unexpectedly, often result injuries, illness, loss or damage to property, and sometimes even death. The financial, psychological and emotional cost of an accident is high. Injuries can cause distress to the individual involved in the accident because they won’t be able to function and work normally. Permanent damage caused by an accident can completely derail what a person does for a living. Irreversible injuries can impact the individual’s entire family. The repercussions of an accident can also have an impact on you as an employer as you need to pay for compensation, production loss, insurance claims and other additional costs brought about by the accident. For these reasons, it is much easier to take extra precautions in avoiding possible accidents than trying to fix the damage that results.
Accident Prevention Plan
Safety and accident prevention plans are geared towards protecting you and your employees from hazards at work. An accident prevention plan involves appropriate preparations and necessary actions taken to minimize, if not completely prevent, accidents. When an accident prevention plan is properly implemented, in the event that of an accident, the degree of injuries, damages and losses will be significantly lessened.
Basically, an accident prevention plan involves the following elements:
Risk Assessment
This involves a thorough observation of the workplace and the identification of potential risks and dangers.
Mitigating Risks or Hazards
This involves the actions or measures taken to minimize, or completely eradicate the potential hazards in the workplace. This could entail fixing or replacing all faulty machinery and equipment, keeping the work areas free of spillage or debris, installing proper lighting or reinforcing scaffoldings or even changing process or procedures in the workplace.
Active Participation
An accident prevention plan can be effective only if both the management and the workers work together to make sure that the prevention plan is implemented properly. Everyone must follow the regulations and standards. Management and employees should also be encouraged to be alert in identifying any new hazards that arise in the workplace and reporting them immediately.
Benefits of Having an Accident Prevention Plan
When a robust accident prevention plan is implemented and enforced in a workplace, it creates a more favorable working environment that will benefit not only the employees, but also you, as the employer.
Boosts Morale of Employees
When your employees feel safe in the workplace, they tend to have a more positive attitude at work. Providing the security for your employees will make them feel that they are being taken care of well.
More Productive Employees
Happy and satisfied employees are more likely to produce better work in terms of quality and quantity. Having a safe and secured working environment helps keep the workplace functioning smoothly.
Reduced Costs
If the accident prevention plan is followed correctly, then accidents and injuries are less likely to happen in the workplace. This means that you wouldn’t have to spend a lot on compensation costs, fines for violation of the law around workplace safety, and costs of property damage.
Measures to Ensure Industrial Safety
In order to reduce or minimize the physical hazards and accidents, effective safety management must be followed in industries.
Certain measures which can be taken to ensure industrial safety are:
1. Safety Engineering
To minimize workplace accidents, proper engineering procedure could be followed. Fencing of machinery, adequate space between machines parts and equipments, use of material handling equipment, safety devices, proper maintenance of machines etc. are undertaken to prevent accidents from occurring.
2. Safety Training & Education
Safety training and education programmes should be held from time to time to train and educate employees, supervisor and workers about precautions to be taken during machine handling. These programmes should develop and encourage among them safety habits like paying attention to warnings etc. Disciplinary actions may be used for breach of safety regulations.
3. Safety Committee
A safety committee should be constituted isnevery plant and factory. It should consist of the representative of both the management and the workers. The committee should educate and impress upon the line manager about the safety measures required in the establishment. The safety programmes & policies should be formulated and implemented through the safety committee. The committee should also hold safety campaigns and safety contests from time to time.
4. Regular Inspection
There should be regular inspection of machines and equipment to check any defect. The inspection should also check that the machines are well-maintained and safety devices are properly plugged in or properly placed. Organizations should also monitor and evaluate the workers at regular intervals to check whether they are following warnings, instructions and precautions while handling any machine or equipment.
5. Provide Appropriate PPE
Personal protective equipment is used at work to protect the user from workplace hazards. If your risk assessment indicates that your employees require PPE, you must provide suitable, task-appropriate protective equipment that is a suitable fit for each employee.
6.Teach Employees Hazardous Energy Control Procedures (i.e., LOTO)
Injuries resulting from the failure to use consistent Lock Out/Tag Out (LOTO) procedures during maintenance activities can include electrocution, burns, crushing, amputating or fractured body parts. To achieve compliance with LOTO standards, manufacturers must develop and enforce a strict energy control program tailored to their equipment.
7. Correctly Record and Report All Accidents
As an employer, you are legally required to report work related accidents. You must report:
• Work-related fatalities.
• Work-related accidents that result in a serious injury or incapacitate an employee for more than seven consecutive days.
• Certain industrial diseases.
• Dangerous occurrences, such as near misses.
• Accidents on site that result in someone who is not an employee being taken to hospital, such as a member of the public.
Why Reporting of Incident at Work Matters
Accident reporting was designed to improve safety in the workplace, there are still a number of reasons employees refuse to comply and avoid this. Management and frontline workers need to understand why reporting an incident makes a big difference in the safety, efficiency and overall well-being of the organization and its members.
Awareness of threats
Reporting incidents is essential since it raises the organization’s awareness about the things that can go wrong so that corrective and preventative actions can be taken promptly. This applies to industries involving manual labor, manufacturing with heavy machinery, office work, and many others. Without the communication channel provided by incident reporting protocols, a variety of threats to safety could go unnoticed and unresolved.
Threats such as:
• Faulty or malfunctioning machinery/equipment
• Improper behavior (sexual harassment, bullying, showing up to work under the influence of alcohol or banned substances, etc.)
• Lack of safety equipment, training, and controls
Encourages Improvement
Incident reports indirectly asks an organization what it’s lacking. It provides real life data that can be used to assess which measures need to be implemented for the organization to level up.
Inspires Urgency
An incident report is legal document that prompts organization to take immediate corrective actions and implement preventive actions to avoid future recurrence.
