Industrial Accidents and the Role of Engineers - Coursework Example

Industrial Accidents and the Role of Engineers Name Institution Date Introduction Safety in the workplace is critical for smooth running of industries and accidents in these workplaces has continued to be a major source of concern for the managers. Industrial accidents have been known to result to serious injuries to the employees while in some cases, there have been witnessed fatalities. Some industrial accidents have also resulted to great losses for the companies. To reduce these losses in property and human resources, prevention of these accidents have been one of the major aims of the management. This paper investigates these accidents in great detail. With great focus on the possible causes of the accidents, the paper investigates several working environments and then discusses the possible prevention strategies that may be employed to minimize occurrence and impact of these accidents. Industrial accidents Industrial accidents can be a serious cause injury and death in the work place and will always be extremely costly with undesirable effect on the moral, productivity and image of an organization (Chan et al, 2012). Pate-Cornel (1993) believes that the accident that occurred in July 1988 on the offshore platform Piper Alpha was not an “act of God” that was unpredictable, but an accumulation of questionable decisions and errors. The Piper Alpha was located in the British sector of the North Sea oil field. It was operated by Occidental Petroleum, but was consumed by fire, causing the death of 165 men on board and two other men on a rescue vessel. The sequence of the final triggering events was not controllable but the failure originally resulted from several management and engineering errors. For example, one of the equipment, a critical pump with one redundancy, had been switched off for maintenance repair but the night crew failed to report of it. This particular problem was a failure of the “permit to work system” that led to the poor communications. If the deluge system had worked properly so that the platform had not been decapitated at the time of the accident, things would not have taken catastrophic proportions. Furthermore, the platform had not been designed to include sufficient structural protection against intense fires. Again, the safety system was not redundant and there was not appropriate decoupling of the safety system. This was clear failure of engineering input in design of the platform. Engineers must go beyond just ensuring that the projects they undertake have been brought to completion. They must understand that safety of users of the structures and products developed is their responsibility. It is, therefore, important that engineers acquire skills that will enable them reduce the occurrence of these accidents. In the event that the accidents are unavoidable, strategies must be in place to ensure that the impacts of these accidents. As Chan et al (2012) say, it is important that skills and knowledge in industrial accident analysis be included in learning programs and these should be emphasised in engineering education. These authors further add that accident investigation skills are very useful in finding out the causes of such industrial incidents and accidents for development of prompt arrangements to prevent future incidences. Industrial accidents – their causes Literature materials on construction safety reveal that researchers have directed efforts towards examination of records and have categorised the common types of accidents and how the accidents occur (Abdelhamid & Everett, 2000). But while accident reporting is significant as an effort for accident prevention plans, it is not an end to itself. The results of such reporting should provide answers that should be put to use when determining the factors that contribute to the cause of the accidents. The dominion theory This theory discusses accidents by investigating the interaction between man and machine, the reasons for unsafe acts, relationship between frequency and severity, cost of accidents, role of the management and the effect of safety on efficiency. In the theory, an accident is observed to be one of five other factors in a sequence which ultimately results to an injury. Heinrich discussed five dominoes in his theory: the social environment and ancestry, a person’s fault, unsafe acts or physical or mechanical hazards, accidents, and injury. Through acquired or inherited undesirable traits, humans may commit acts which are unsafe or they may cause the existence of physical or mechanical hazards which will result in injurious accidents. This theory can be summaries in two points: people are the main reason behind accidents; and with the management’s ability, it is responsible for preventing the accidents. Modifications of this theory have focused on the role of management in preventing work place accidents. Engineers, as part of organization’s management, have a big role to play in the prevention of these accidents (Abdelhamid & Everett, 2000). Multiple Causation Model Under this model, it is understood that several factors combine together randomly, causing accidents. In management or prevention of these accidents, the model proposes that these factors must be determined and target in the prevention efforts. To reveal the factors surrounding the incident, multiple causation questions used. The answers to these questions would be used in improvement of the inspection procedures and training, better definition of the responsibilities and improved planning by managers and supervisors. Unsafe Conditions This is a condition in which the work location, status of tools and equipment and materials are not within contemporary standards of safety. Open sided floors, improperly constructed scaffolds, defective ladders, protruding nails and ends of reinforcing rods, overloaded tools, unprotected explosive material, flying materials, ungrounded electrical tools, etc all constitute unsafe conditions (Abdelhamid & Everett, 2000). Technical causes – chemical process Chemical industry, like any other industrial work places, experiences several accidents. Kidam et al (2009) argues that these accidents are mainly caused by technical failures at 73%. Other accidents result from organizational (23%) or other unknown causes (4%). Technical failures are, however, associated with ‘human engineering error’. These human engineering errors include confusion control panel display, wrong equipment labelling, wrong work instruction, wrong colour coding as well as poor visibility and accessibility to the equipment. In the chemical environment, accidents have risen from piping system failures and have resulted to loss of containments and leakages which have led to fires and explosions and dispersion of toxic. Typical problems have been associated with the piping system. These include poor layout, dead end or no flow arrangement, wrong specification, poor installation and finishing work, blockage and inadequate hot bolting. These piping systems are very complex given the multiple interactions between the process equipment. Higher process flexibilities will usually result to more complex systems. Since the system design is the engineers’ work, they must ensure that workability and efficiency are realised with appropriate safety measures. Great engineering design considerations must be employed in the selection of construction material for chemical process industries (Kidam et al, 2009). Inappropriate selection of these materials is a serious design error and will usually contribute to the mechanical and physical problems of the equipment like corrosion, cracking, erosion, fatigue, creep and shock. Selection of mechanically robust material and increasing thickness of the walls of the process equipment can greatly reduce or eliminate failures of the wall. Again, selecting chemically resistant material like Teflon or stainless steel can minimise the corrosion problems of the equipment. Improper functioning of machine control systems Advancement of computer techniques has resulted to an increase in the number of accidents which are caused by unpredictable functioning of machine control systems. When the machine control systems function improperly, then the machine will operate inappropriately. Such improper operations will usually involve issues like changing the parameters of motion for the machine or improper signalling of the working state of the machine. Possible unpredictable machine movements as well as unintended changes in speed, failure of machine stoppages, unexpected starts or ejection of mobile machine parts or elements are some of the more risky causes of accidents in such environments. Such occurrences will be witnessed when the machine control systems functions improperly so that there is experienced loss of the safety function which is responsible for preventing such effects (Dzwiarek, 2004). Unsafe acts These are made up of human errors which could be a potential cause of an accident. They may be human actions that do not observe hazard control or job procedures to which the person has got training or informed which unnecessarily exposes the individual to hazards (Zakaria et al, 2012). Researchers have found that these acts are a major cause of industrial accidents. Heinrich found that for every 333 unsafe acts, 229 will usually result to serious injury while one will lead to a major incident. These researchers, therefore, recommend that it is essential for the management to concentrate on workers and their actions to see whether or not they conduct work in a safe manner. Design of the work place The design of the workplace will greatly influence the safety of users. As Zakaria et al (2012) says, researchers have mentioned that the choice of building material, nature of the wiring system and the safety measures used will always determine the level users and other worker get exposed to incidences and accidents that may harm them. Since the majority of major injuries will occur to non-drivers, poor layout and design of the workplaces must be considered a causal factor. According to Miller (1988), careful segregation has been achieved in those areas where people and vehicles come into contact like in parking lots. This has, however, been difficult to implement in warehouses. He, therefore, recommended the use of separated pedestrian routes. The bulk of the seriously injured are pedestrians. Since the workplace layouts increase people and vehicle interaction, they should be considered a major causal factor. Engineers need to understand that prevention of the workplace transport accidents is not a difficult task. While having a good design may be easily achieved, once a dangerously designed layout has been created, it is more difficult to make the necessary corrections. It is therefore important that great attention is paid to design within the working environment. As stated by Miller (1988), there are specific recommendations that may be used for reducing these transport accidents. Engineers must ensure that lighting levels are installed in a manner that will ensure that drivers are able to see properly. Noise levels should also be monitored to achieve a conducive workplace; the workplace should also have enough working space for smooth movement and transportation. It is necessary to have clear markings in those locations where there is an interaction between vehicles and pedestrians. Prevention of accidents Several concerned researchers have debated on industrial safety and prevention of accidents. Others have argued that certain ‘high hazard’ industries may not be able to prevent accidents, despite the designed regulations put in place to prevent them (Perrow, 1984). This argument was based on the reasoning that such organization are complex with numerous interaction between parts, limited slack with highly dependent processes. The individuals therefore face difficult time responding to adequately to potential dangers and interpreting cues. Other researcher, however, all organizations can be designed and are able to learn to execute difficult tasks with reliability. Prevention of industrial accidents should perform fundamental analysis of the cause of unsafe acts as well as the unsafe conditions of occupational accidents which induce traditional accidents such as slips, falls and strictures (Kang et al, 2012). As Kang et al (2012) further points out, the analysis of cause and effect for the case of Bopal gas water leak in Korea, it can be reported that absence of an alarm system, chemical potential hazard, insufficient equipment, insufficient system functionality, inadequate maintenance and misinformation are the major causes of industrial accidents. The Koreans in this case employed a method for injury and risk removal through the Logical Framework Approach (LFA) that was related to education, development of adequate maintenance systems, alarm and the emergency action plans. The Koreans have also used the LCU model for the prevention of fatal accidents in medium sized and small industries. This model has been developed with life stress factors that have been adapted to the actual Korean life. The model also proposes systematic management method. Accident reporting Sándor & Szakál (2006) have the understanding that accidents and workplace incidents are not caused by a single factor, but by a combination of several factors that relate to organizational, technical and human domains. Prevention intensions are therefore often directed at identifying the potential failures before the main accident occurs. Less critical ‘near-misses’ that occur more frequently also greatly support statistical analysis that may not be reliably performed on infrequent accidents. Lessons learned and the data collected from accidents and incidents may be shared with other operators with similar applications so as to avoid the reoccurrence of these accidents. There have been numerous proposals for incident reporting systems as an effective means of ensuring safety in many industries, including marine transportation, chemical production, railways and nuclear power production. Unfortunately, lack of materials for training or other forms of guidance can make the process very difficult for managers and engineers to have reporting systems in place. Sándor & Szakál (2006) also highlight the following benefits of reports: a) Incident reports are used to determine why accidents do not occur. b) More frequent incidents allows for quantitative analysis. These provide insights into relative proportions of a particular class of system failure, human error, regulatory weakness etc. c) The feedback will keep staff ‘in the loop’ d) They serve as a reminder of hazards e) Lessons and data can be shared Social psychology and organizational learning While technical failure and human error have been identified as the major causes of accidents in industry, organizational factors have now been widely recognised as significant causes (Lyneis & Madnick, 2008). It is therefore critical that organization create and sustain a “safety climate”. The climate is hypothesized to serve as link between several organizational characteristics which include management commitment to safety, the communication links, and the safety behaviour and stability of the workforce. Thus, as much as there is the individual responsibility to safety, there is should be established a “shared cognition regarding safety” within the organizations. It should be understood that the general attitudes to safety will influence safety behaviour and has the potential of facilitating climate change. Implementing a culture for safety is not an easy task. Companies must be able to create an environment where workers can learn and use past experiences to strategically implement corrective measures that will promote safety. In prevention of accidents, companies must be able not just to learn from its own experiences, but to access information and useful data from other companies. Following an accident, the company may engage its employees in increased enforcement of rules, or introduce other regulations and preventive procedures to prevent reoccurrence of such accidents. Management safety actions and the role of engineers Literature materials have acknowledged the major role of the management in prevention efforts. These roles include perceived management concern and attitudes to safety, management commitment, management actions and the senior management support (Lyneis & Madnick, 2008). In several companies, leadership and management actions have been found to influence the safety climate and the rate of accident occurrences. Management therefore bears great responsibility in the effort to minimize and prevent accidents. Engineers are involved in all major designs carried out in the industry workplace, from the design of the workplace itself to the everyday tasks. Since several accidents result from poorly designed workplace, and improper installation and operation of equipment, engineers must ensure that the correct designs are used. Provision of safety alarm systems, proximity sensors and safety interlocks should be used to further enhance the safety. In this way, engineers are able to greatly reduce these accidents if not to eliminate them and make the workplace safer. Conclusion As has been seen in the discussion above, industrial accidents come in different ways and with different magnitudes. The accidents are associated with several causes. The main causes have been found to be those related to human error and technical problems of the equipment installed. In workplaces where there are moving equipment like forklifts and cranes, there are increased chances pedestrians will be victims of accidents. The management therefore must put in place appropriate measure to ensure that these accidents are prevented. While individual-specific regulations and guiding principles should be used to remind employees of the safety, managers should aim at establishing safety cultures in their companies so that it becomes sustainable and easy to implement. Engineers need to incorporate safety considerations in their designs and should ensure that the laid down safety measure are observed by the lower level employees. References Abdelhami T.S. & Everett J.G. (2000). Identifying root causes of construction accidents. Journal of Construction Engineering and Management; Vol. 126. No. I Sándor A. & B. Szakál. (2006). Accident reporting as a tool of prevention of industrial accidents involving dangerous substances. AARMS; Vol. 5, No. 4, 659–671. Zakaria N.H., Mansor N. & Abdullah Z. (2012). Workplace Accident in Malaysia: Most Common Causes and Solutions. Business and Management Review; Vol. 2 (5) pp. 75 – 88. Kang Y., Yang S., Kim T. & Kim D. (2012). Systematic Strategies for the Third Industrial Accident Prevention Plan in Korea. Industrial Health; 50, 567–574. Miller, B.C. (1988). Forklift safety by design. Professional Safety, September 18-21. Dzwiarek M. (2004). An Analysis of Accidents Caused by Improper Functioning of Machine Control Systems. International Journal of Occupational Safety and Ergonomics (JOSE); Vol. 10, No. 2, 129–136 Pate-Cornel M.E. (1993). Learning from the Piper Alpha Accident: A Post-mortem Analysis of Technical and Organizational Factors. Risk Analysis; Vol. 13, No. 2. Chan A.H.S., Chan K.L. & Chen K. (2012). An Online Casebook on Industrial Accident Analysis. Proceedings of the International Multi Conference of Engineers and Computer Scientists, Vol II, IMECS, Hong Kong. Kidam et al (2009). Technical Analysis of Accident in Chemical Process Industry and Lessons Learnt. Retrieved on 15th March 2014 from Lyneis J & Madnick S. (2008). Preventing Accidents and Building a Culture of Safety: Insights from a Simulation Model. Working Paper CISL# 2008-03 Read More

As Chan et al (2012) say, it is important that skills and knowledge in industrial accident analysis be included in learning programs and these should be emphasised in engineering education. These authors further add that accident investigation skills are very useful in finding out the causes of such industrial incidents and accidents for development of prompt arrangements to prevent future incidences. Industrial accidents – their causes Literature materials on construction safety reveal that researchers have directed efforts towards examination of records and have categorised the common types of accidents and how the accidents occur (Abdelhamid & Everett, 2000).

But while accident reporting is significant as an effort for accident prevention plans, it is not an end to itself. The results of such reporting should provide answers that should be put to use when determining the factors that contribute to the cause of the accidents. The dominion theory This theory discusses accidents by investigating the interaction between man and machine, the reasons for unsafe acts, relationship between frequency and severity, cost of accidents, role of the management and the effect of safety on efficiency.

In the theory, an accident is observed to be one of five other factors in a sequence which ultimately results to an injury. Heinrich discussed five dominoes in his theory: the social environment and ancestry, a person’s fault, unsafe acts or physical or mechanical hazards, accidents, and injury. Through acquired or inherited undesirable traits, humans may commit acts which are unsafe or they may cause the existence of physical or mechanical hazards which will result in injurious accidents. This theory can be summaries in two points: people are the main reason behind accidents; and with the management’s ability, it is responsible for preventing the accidents.

Modifications of this theory have focused on the role of management in preventing work place accidents. Engineers, as part of organization’s management, have a big role to play in the prevention of these accidents (Abdelhamid & Everett, 2000). Multiple Causation Model Under this model, it is understood that several factors combine together randomly, causing accidents. In management or prevention of these accidents, the model proposes that these factors must be determined and target in the prevention efforts.

To reveal the factors surrounding the incident, multiple causation questions used. The answers to these questions would be used in improvement of the inspection procedures and training, better definition of the responsibilities and improved planning by managers and supervisors. Unsafe Conditions This is a condition in which the work location, status of tools and equipment and materials are not within contemporary standards of safety. Open sided floors, improperly constructed scaffolds, defective ladders, protruding nails and ends of reinforcing rods, overloaded tools, unprotected explosive material, flying materials, ungrounded electrical tools, etc all constitute unsafe conditions (Abdelhamid & Everett, 2000).

Technical causes – chemical process Chemical industry, like any other industrial work places, experiences several accidents. Kidam et al (2009) argues that these accidents are mainly caused by technical failures at 73%. Other accidents result from organizational (23%) or other unknown causes (4%). Technical failures are, however, associated with ‘human engineering error’. These human engineering errors include confusion control panel display, wrong equipment labelling, wrong work instruction, wrong colour coding as well as poor visibility and accessibility to the equipment.

In the chemical environment, accidents have risen from piping system failures and have resulted to loss of containments and leakages which have led to fires and explosions and dispersion of toxic. Typical problems have been associated with the piping system. These include poor layout, dead end or no flow arrangement, wrong specification, poor installation and finishing work, blockage and inadequate hot bolting.

Read More