Contents

• Introduction 2
• Human Error Model of Accident Investigation 3
• Heinrich Theory of Accident Causation 4
• Comparison of the two models 5
• Impact on the processes of Risk Management and Accident Investigation in the workplace 7
• Conclusion 9
• References 11

Description

The pre industrial era involved the use of little or no machines at all. Much of the work was manual and largely risk free. The method of work included family groups, etc working together. The post industrial era changed all that. Industries sprang up everywhere and populations increased in the towns tremendously. The productivity of work more than doubled, however the number of accidents and mishaps also increased. Working conditions were also very uncomfortable. Owners of such establishments began to realize that instead of assigning an entire sequence of jobs to a single person, they could be divided among others and each person could do a repetitive work faster and thus productivity further increased. With these also increased occupational related hazards and dangers as it was likely that a person might find the job monotonous. Another factor was that productivity was given the top priority and safety was only a secondary concern. As the industries diversified and their numbers started increasing, so did the number of accidents and resulting injuries and fatalities. Earlier, the fatalities were more in number in the coal and other mining industries. The industries were forced to take action; however, they looked at only correcting major security concerns as they were largely profit driven. It was only when the policy making regarding safety shifted from the industries to the State and legislation came into being that the number of accidents decreased. Safety was now given more importance and more resources and time was spent on ensuring accidents were prevented. Studies were carried out to devise steps to control the number of fatalities and reduce the risk of injuries. Two such models are discussed below and are compared with one another.