Accident Classification

When is an Accident really an

Accident?
 What is an Accident?
4 defining characteristics
must occur suddenly
must be unintentional
involves uncontrolled release of one of the
forms of physical energy
results in injury and/or property damage
 Examples
Accidents
construction worker falls and breaks arm
Johnny crashes his bike and knocks out front
teeth
blast furnace explodes, no one injured
secretary cuts finger while opening mail
 Examples
Non-accidents
worker trips while carrying parts, not injured
and no damage to parts
gas leak in school causes evacuation, but no
injury
jealous husband shoots wifes boyfriend
 Working Definition
Accident
A sudden, unintentional event which results in
injury and/or property damage caused by one of
the forms of physical energy
 Accident Data Collection
Many government agencies provide data
National Health Survey
not objective--based only on samples
Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS)
OSHA--primary source of industrial data
CPSC
consumer data
 Accident Data Collection
Other government agencies
State agencies
IOSHA, Workers Compensation Board
Congressional committees
Police, military, Coast Guard
State departments of health
NIOSH
 Accident Data Collection
Underwriters
trade groups
American Insurance Alliance
independent companies
Trade associations
Public interest groups
NSC--1st national system of industrial safety
record keeping
 Problems with Accident Data

Errors in collection
deliberate suppression
failure to complain (embarrassment)
varying accident definitions
OSHA, lawyers, doctors, safety directors
lack of uniformity in reporting and recording
 Problems with Accident Data

Errors in presentation
use of raw numbers rather than rates
misleading averages or rates
1950--15,500 worker deaths among 56.4 million
workers (27 per 100,000)
1990--10,500 worker deaths among 117.4 million
workers (9 per 100,000)
misleading graphs
 Problems with Accident Data

Errors in interpretation
failure to correct for exposure time
intentional omission/ invalid inclusion
failure to account for biases