Accident Management

Managing accidents is an on going process in every workplace. The key is to limit the frequency that accidents need to be managed. The following can help you to accomplish this task.

a.) What reporting and recordkeeping procedures must be followed by a company to meet federal and state requirements?

—First Report of Injury (301 Form) or State equivalent
— OSHA 300 Log
—OSHA 300A (Annual Report) and/or State equivalent
— Workplace Deaths

First Report of Injury: Basic requirement. You must consider an injury or illness to meet the general recording criteria to be recordable, if it results in any of the following: death, days away from work, restricted work or transfer to another job, medical treatment beyond first aid, or loss of consciousness. You must also consider a case to meet the general recording criteria if it involves a significant injury or illness diagnosed by a physician or other licensed health care professional, even if it does not result in death, days away from work, restricted work or job transfer, medical treatment beyond first aid, or loss of consciousness.

The purpose of this rule (Part 1904) is to require employers to record and report work-related fatalities, injuries and illnesses. Recording or reporting a work-related injury, illness, or fatality does not mean that the employer or employee was at fault, that an OSHA rule has been violated, or that the employee is eligible for workers' compensation or other benefits.

The Federal 301 form (see form) is the first step in the recordkeeping and reporting process. This form is used whenever there is not a qualified State program in place for First Reporting that replaces the Federal 301 form. In those cases the individual State form should be used. You should verify whether your State has it’s own First Report of Injury.

Lastly, other than the recordkeeping requirements of the State or Federal government there can be separate reporting requirements for worker’s compensation. As previously stated, an injury or illness can meet recordability requirements and not meet worker’s compensation eligibility. However, this is the exception rather than the rule. Most individual States have their own worker compensation First Report of Injury Forms. Some States satisfy both recordkeeping/notification rules for occupational safety and health and workers compensation using one form. You should become familiar with your State requirements (see State Worker Compensation).

b.) In general, what are the most common occupational accidents/injuries?

This is a difficult question to answer due to the differences between industries and their workplace activities. But in general here are the top 3 in terms of lost work day frequency:
— Overexertion and Back Injuries (approximately 43%)
—Struck by an object (approximately 26%)
— Slips, trips and falls (approximately 18%)

The top 3 industry classifications that are responsible for close to 47% of all lost time accidents are:
—Manufacturing: 22.6%
—Transportation: 12.4%
— Construction: 11.7%
Note: Data is calculated from the Bureau of Labor Statistics 2001 data.

c.) In general, what are the most expensive occupational accidents?

This statistic can be very misleading and once again it is quite industry specific. However, considering cost associated with medical, indemnity and liability for workers here are the top seven direct costs:

— Overexertion (lifting, pushing, pulling etc.) 25.5% of total ($25.5 billion)
— Fall to same level 11.5% ($4.6 billion)
— Body reaction (bending, climbing, slipping or tripping) 9.4% ($3.8 billion)
— Fall to lower level 9.2% ($3.7 billion)
— Struck by object (tool use and being struck from falling objects) 8.5% ($3.4 billion)
— Repetitive motion (repeated stress or strain) 6.7% ($2.7 billion)
— Vehicle Accidents (magnitude of the trauma and repair costs) 5.9% ($2.4 billion)

These seven represent approximately 76% of costs as reported by Liberty Mutual Safety Index, Bureau of Labor Statistics and NASI)

d.) What are some prevention techniques used by companies to reduce accidents?

In order to prevent accidents the first step is to recognize where accidents could happen based on the hazards that are present in any given workplace. Obviously the best way to prevent an accident is to eliminate or at the very least isolate the accident hazard. The most accepted and generally recommended practice is to conduct a Job Hazard Analysis. This will provide a detailed step-by-step list of hazards that exist for the various jobs that are performed. Once these are identified, applying specific prevention measures or techniques is more productive and measurable.

Another means of preventing accidents is to not only know how many happened but how many almost happened. This means establishing a comprehensive near-miss program that allows workers to record/report instances where accidents almost happened. The combination of knowing these statistics can be a very powerful tool and will identify specific prevention strategies that relate to a given workplace. Here are some proven ways that prevent accidents:

— Training (educating workers or groups of workers to potential hazards and how to avoid them).
— Leadership (making safety and health job one (accountability) and rewarding safe work practices).
— Inspections (auditing the workplace on a regular basis for hazards).

e.) What types of workers are more likely to have accidents then others and how does a company predict these from happening?

There are 2 variables that need to be measured, workers and accidents. If it can be measured it can count for something. The something’s are characteristics. The goal is to create a list of measurable characteristics about each group; workers and accidents. These measurable characteristics can be then be grouped creating a homogeneous (similar) population. The highest (or lowest) count within and between characteristics is the result. The result is the model for the worker that will have the greatest number of accidents or not have an accident depending on your perspective.

For example:
— Variable = worker,
— Measurable characteristic = age,
— Age = current date - birth date,
— Age Range = Age (=18 + 10 years…65)

The occupation of a worker is certainly one of a host of characteristics that need to be made in order to identify the likelihood (probability) of certain workers having accidents. This is probably the most obvious consideration and the first step in creating a homogenous group to analyze a worker population. Another consideration is population demographics. These are characteristics about the worker such as age, gender, height, weight etc. Other factors that can be distinguishing characteristics are experience, environment and time. Experience can be measured by length of employment, length at occupation, training and education. Environmental factors are those that consider the characteristics of the area where accidents occur. These factors can be measured by size (area), temperature, noise, light, color, position (standing, sitting), floor substrate (carpets, concrete, wood etc) and ventilation (air composition, pressure, and volume). Finally, time is another characteristic of accidents. Time can be measured by time of day, day of week, time of month, time of year, type of shift, and time of shift. When information such as this is captured and analyzed the; who, what, when, where, how and why of accidents will be evident.