APPROACHES TO HAZARD AVOIDANCE

Terms
Safety: free from harm, danger, damage,
injury
j y
Risk: measure of both frequency and
severity of hazards
Hazard: unsafe condition, the potential for
an activity or condition to produce harm
 Accident Theories
Domino Theory
Energy Theory
Single Factor Theories
M l i l Factor
Multiple F Theories
Th i
 Domino Theory (Heinrich)
1. Injury is caused by
2. Accidents which are caused byy
3. Unsafe acts or conditions which are caused
byy
4. Undesirable traits (e.g., recklessness,
nervousness,, temper,
p , lack of knowledge,g ,
unsafe practices) which are caused by
5. Social environment
 Domino Theory Cont.
Stop the sequence by removing or
controlling
g contributing
g factors
Strong emphasis is placed on the middle
domino: unsafe acts or conditions
 Energy Theory (Haddon)
Accidents & Injuries involve the transfer of
energy,
gy, e.g.,
g , fires,, vehicle accidents,,
projectiles, etc.
Transfer of energy from a potential
potential to
kinetic
Attack problems in parallel rather than
serial (as is presumed in Domino Theory)
 Energy Theory Cont.
Cont
10 Strategies to Prevent or Reduce

1. Prevent the marshalling of energy

- dont pproduce the energy
gy
- dont let kids climb above floor level
- dont pproduce ggun ppowder

2 Reduce the amount of energy marshaled

2.
- keep vehicle speeds down
- reduce chemical concentrations
- dont let kids climb above 3 feet
3. Prevent the release of energy
- elevator brakes

44. M
Modify
dif th
the rate
t att which
hi h energy is
i released
l d
from its source or modify the spatial
di t ib ti off the
distribution th released
l d energy
- reduce the slope
p on roadways
y

5. Separate in space or time the energy being

released
l d from
f the
th structure
t t that
th t can be
b damaged
d d
or the human who can be injured
- separate pedestrians from vehicles
6. Separate the energy being released from a
structure or person that can suffer loss by
interposing a barrier
- safety glasses, highway median barriers
7. Modify
od y tthee surfaces
su aces of
o structures
st uctu es that
t at come
co e
into contact with people or other structure
- rounded corners
corners, larger surface areas for tool
handles
88. St
Strengthen
th the
th structure
t t or person
susceptible to damage
-fire or earthquake resistant structures,
training, vaccinations
9. Detect damage quickly and counter its
continuation or extension
- sprinklers that detect heat
- tire tread wear bands
10. D
10 During
i ththe period
i d following
f ll i damage
d andd
return to normal conditions, take measures to
restore
t a stable
t bl condition
diti
- rehab an injured
j worker
- repair a damaged vehicle
 Single Factor Theories
Assumes that when one finds a cause, there
is nothing
g more to find out
Weak theory, there can be so much more to
learn!
 Multiple Factor Theories
Accidents are caused by many factors
working together
The theory and the analysis is more
complex, but more realistic than Single
Factor Theory
Consider the Four Ms:
management, man, media, machine
And their interactions
 Concepts of Hazard Avoidance
Approaches
1. Enforcement
2. Psychological
3. Engineering
4. Analytical

To be successful you must have top

management support!
 1. Enforcement Approach
Your approach to hazard avoidance is entirely
predicated upon avoiding regulatory fines.
Many companies establish their safety programs to
meet OSHA requirements thinking that is
adequate.
d
This is a bare minimum approach. While it may
seem costt effective,
ff ti it likely
lik l is
i nott in
i the
th big
bi
picture.
 2. Psychological Approach
Your approach to hazard avoidance is based on a
psychological (or behavior-based) approach.
The behavioral approach has been popular and
widely used.
DuPont STOPTM (Safety Training Observation
P
Program)
)
http://www2.dupont.com/Safety_Products/en_US/products/pro
grams_training/index.html
To be successful
successful, this approach needs to be ever
vigilant, and must be infused with some
engineering and analytical components
 3. Engineering Approach
The engineering approach to hazard avoidance utilizes
controls measures starting with engineering (then
administrative, then PPE)
Consideration of (see next slides)
Safety Factor Concept
Fail-Safe
Fail Safe Concept
Design Principles Design for Safety
Be careful to avoid a false-sense of security from
engineering
i i andd technology
h l
 Safety Factor Concept
Since there is a chance element in safety, we can
improve our chances by implementing a safety
factor
Scaffolding 4:1
Designed to withstand 4 times the intended load
Overhead crane hoists 5:1
Scaffold ropes 6:1
Wh
Why not use 10:1
10 1 as a standard??
d d?? $$$$$
Beware when using field tables or computer
programs Are the safety factors applied or not??
programs.
 Fail-Safe Concept
1. General fail-safe principle
p p
The resulting status of a system, in event of failure of one of
its components, shall be in a safe mode.
2 Fail-safe
2. F il f principle
i i l off redundancy
d d
A critically important function of a system, subsystem, or
components
p can be preserved
p byy alternative pparallel or
standby units.
3. Principle of worst case
The design
Th d i off a system should
h ld consider
id the
h worst situation
i i to
which it may be subjected in use.
Murphys
p y Law: If anything
y g can ggo wrong,
g it will.
 Engineering Design Principles
Eliminate Filters
Substitute Exhaust ventilation
Guard Human Interface
Barriers
Warn with alarms
((auditory,
y, visual))
Labels
 4. Analytical Approach
The analytical approach to hazard avoidance
utilizes various qualitative and quantitative tools
Accident Analysis
System Safety Techniques (see next slide)
Loss Incident
id Causation
i Models
d l
Proximal and Distal Causes (McClay)
Toxicology
Epidemiology
Cost-Benefit Analysis
 System Safety Techniques
Preliminary Hazard Analysis
Hazard Tracking Log
Subsystem
y Hazard Analysis
y Analysis (ETBA)
System Hazard Analysis
Operating Hazard Analysis
Change Analysis
Accident Analysis
Time-Loss Analysis
Event and Causal Factor Charts
Process Safety Management
Fault Tree Analysis (FTA)
Energy Trace & Barrier
Failure Mode & Effects
Analysis (FMEA)
Project Evaluation Tree (PET)
Management Oversight & Risk
Tree (MORT)
Software Hazard Analysis
Common Cause Failure
Analysis
Sneak Circuit Analysis
 How Safe is Safe Enough?
Can absolute safety be achieved?
Remember the concept of risk
risk .
What is acceptably safe?
R
Rememberb the
h Risk
Ri k Assessment
A M
Matrix:
i
Severity versus Frequency