The Cause of Workplace Injuries

Get the latest Flash player

markdcatlin
July 29, 2008

How many different causes, that helped lead to the accident in this clip, can you identify? Was this accident caused only by the worker? Do workers sometimes make "mistakes"? Al Chapanis, a forme...

How many different causes, that helped lead to the accident in this clip, can you identify? Was this accident caused only by the worker? Do workers sometimes make "mistakes"? Al Chapanis, a former profession of human factors engineering at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland (U.S.) said, "Everyone, and that includes you and me, is at some time careless, complacent, overconfident, and stubborn. At times each of us becomes distracted, inattentive, bored and fatigued. We occasionally take chances, we misunderstand, we misinterpret, and we misread. These are completely human characteristics. ...Because we are human and because all these traits are fundamental and built into each of us, the equipment, machines and systems that we construct for our use have to be made to accommodate us the way we are, and not vice versa." The fact is, good occupational safety and health practice is based in the understanding that all work-related injuries and illnesses are caused by workers' exposure to hazards. There are no exceptions. In order to have a so-called "at risk" behaviour, there must be a hazard. If there was no hazard, there would be no "risk" and there could be no injury or illness. The goal of workplace health and safety efforts, then, is to find and fix hazards and to understand and change systems of work such as unsafe staffing levels, mandatory overtime/extended work hours and a "push for production" that intensify work loads, create unreasonable work pace and cause workers to work when they are fatigued. For a broader look at identifying the causes of workplace injuries, linked to Hazards magazine at http://www.hazards.org/bs/hazardsbrie... . This is clipped from a 1990s video from the US Postal Service.

Category: Education

Tags:

Root Cause analysis OSHA NIOSH USPS hazwoper blame carelessness behavioral based safety program labor union LOTO lock out tag

More From: markdcatlin

Play All Stop Autoplaying | Play Next

QuickList(0)

Clear | Save

1 ratings

2,983 views

Favorite

Playlists

Flag

Want to add to Favorites? Sign In or Sign Up now!

Want to add to Playlists? Sign In or Sign Up now!

Want to flag a video? Sign In or Sign Up now!

Statistics & Data

Video Responses (0)

This video has no Responses. Be the first to Post a Video Response.

Text Comments (1) Options

drbillcorcoran (1 year ago) Show Hide

Marked as spam

Great video for root cause analysis discussion. Shows real life pressures.

The viewers can easily supply the details necessary for root cause analysis discussions.

Showing 1 of 1 comments

Show More Comments

View All 1 comments

Would you like to comment?

Join YouTube for a free account, or sign in if you are already a member.

YouTube	Programs	Help	Policy	Discover
Contact Us	Advertising	Get Help	Privacy Policy	YouTube on Your Phone
YouTube Store	Developers	YouTube Handbook	Terms of Service	YouTube on Your Site
Press Room	Partnerships	Community Help Forums	Copyright Notices	YouTube on Your TV
Business Blog	Content Management	Safety Center	Community Guidelines	YouTube RSS Feeds
YouTube Blog		Creator's Corner		TestTube

Add YouTube to your Google homepage

Current Location: Worldwide Show locations