‫اﻟﺼﺤﺔ واﻟﺴﻼﻣﺔ واﻟﺒﯿﺌﺔ‬

‫ﺗﺬﻛﯿﺮ‬
To: All Employees Date: April 2012

Preventing accidents is extremely difficult if we don’t understand what causes the accidents. According to W.H. Heinrich
(1931), who developed the so-called domino theory, 88% of all accidents are caused by Unsafe Acts of people, 10% by
Unsafe Conditions and 2% by “acts of God”.
But what does Unsafe really means? It is anything involving or causing danger that is liable to hurt or harm. In the
workplace, unsafe is attributed to an Unsafe Act or Condition. Unsafe Act is an action against the established regulations
which has potential to harm individuals or properties. Unsafe Condition is part of the work environment and physical
condition of machinery and human beings that contributed or could have contributed to an accident.
Unsafe Acts or Practices and Unsafe Working Conditions are two (2) known symptoms leading to an accident. The first
symptom relates to “behaviours”, the second relates to “circumstances” which could permit the occurrence of an accident.
Incidents / accidents are invariably preceded by Unsafe Acts or Unsafe Conditions.
To analyse further, causes of accidents are grouped into “IMMEDIATE” and “CONTRIBUTING”. The immediate causes are the
Unsafe Acts or Practices of the worker and Unsafe Working Conditions. The contributing causes are the management-related
factors, the environment, the physical and mental condition of the worker etc. An accident will result when a combination of
causes will converge.
It is very essential to analyse and assess properly the immediate cause of any type of incident such as near miss / dangerous
occurrence, fire incident etc. For any near miss that someone could benefit by learning from the event should be reported
and investigated as an opportunity to improve safety in the workplace. Near miss is an undesired event that did not result in
an injury or loss, but had the potential to result in undesirable consequences to personnel (injury / illness), and/or to the
assets (damage / loss) or to the neighbouring community and environment, if circumstances had been slightly different.
In order to improve our safety performance, it is mandatory that all incidents shall be transparently reported, recorded and
analysed to identify the Immediate Causes – Unsafe Act and Unsafe Condition.
IMMEDIATE CAUSES
UNSAFE ACTS / PRACTICES (85-96%) UNSAFE WORKING CONDITIONS (4-15%)
 Operating equipment without authority  Inadequate guards or barriers
 Operating at improper speed  Inadequate or improper protective
 Using defective equipment equipment
 Using equipment improperly  Defective tools, equipment or materials
 Servicing equipment in operation  Congestion or restricted action
 Making safety devices inoperable  Inadequate warning system
 Removing safety devices  Poor housekeeping; disorderly workplace
 Failure to use PPE  Hazardous environmental conditions:
gases, dusts, vapors, smokes, fumes
 Failure to warn
 Fire and explosion hazards
 Failure to secure
 Noise exposures
 Improper loading
 Radiation exposures
 Improper placement
 Temperature extremes
 Improper position for task
 Inadequate or excessive illumination
 Under influence of alcohol/and or drugs
 Inadequate ventilation

ACCIDENT CAUSES ANALYSIS (2010 vs 2011)

UNSAFE ACTS 2010 2011 UNSAFE CONDITIONS 2010 2011
Others Others
Taking Unsafe Position 37 24 Congested Area 22 9
Adjust. Equip. Improper Illumination
Failure to Secure 8 14 Hazardous Arrangement 7 9
Insecure Grip Slippery Surfaces
PPE Non-Compliance 12 14 Environmental Condition 0 6
Unsafe Lifting Lack of Coordination
Unsafe Lifting 11 8 Lack of Coordination 15 1
PPE Non-Compliance Environmental C.
Insecure Grip 0 5 Slippery Surface 12 2
Failure to Secure Hazardous A.
Adjust. Equip. in Motion 0 5 Improper Illumination 0 1
Taking Unsafe Position Congested Area
Others 15 15 Others 27 6

“Safety is a positive act, practice it and stay intact.”

HseR/04/2012