Put a Stop to Repeat Accidents

Breaking the chain of repeat accidents is a priority in any workplace. An accident can cause injuries, affect production and morale, damage equipment and structures, and create fear and stress among employees.

Repeat accidents multiply the damage.

What can you do to stop employees from making the same mistakes that lead to repeat accidents?

Do:

• Set a goal. Without a specific intention to eliminate repeat accidents, positive results may be elusive.
• Determine the steps toward this goal. Steps might include increased awareness, additional training, stepped up supervisory oversight, changes in procedures or equipment, etc.
• Communicate priorities clearly. Make sure employees understand the goal, the steps required to reach it, and how important it is to eliminate repeat accidents.
• Promote an accident-free culture. Encourage employees to participate in safety programs and become actively involved in reducing accident risks.
• Recognize and reinforce safe performance. Use a variety of incentives and rewards to improve safety performance.
• Emphasize hazard detection, and encourage hazard reporting.

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Don’t:

• Send mixed messages. Everyone needs to know that you take each accident seriously and that preventing the same kind of incident from happening again is a top priority.
• Use discipline without also offering help. When safety rules are broken, discipline may be required. But even then, make sure that there’s a positive element as well and that supervisors help poor safety performers improve.
• Lecture. Employees don’t respond well to this method. It often goes in one ear and out the other. Lecturing also turns employees into passive receptors rather than engaging them actively in their own safety performance.
• Blame. Even if an employee makes a mistake, blame won’t solve the problem. The issue should be why the employee made the mistake and how to fix that so he or she doesn’t repeat a mistake that leads to another accident.
• Assume the worst. Expect the best and that’s usually what you’ll get, even from employees with poor safety performance histories.
• Give empty pep talks. Actions speak louder than words, so back up encouraging words by making real safety improvements and offers of assistance and support.

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Join us on March 15 for an in-depth 90-minute interactive webinar on how to reduce human error and prevent accidents. We’ll give you an effective 5-point methodology you can start using right away. Learn More.

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Continuous Safety Improvement

Ensuring that the same mistakes that lead to the same accidents are not repeated is really part of a continuous safety improvement process. This process identifies:

• Jobs that have the highest risk of accidents
• Employees who are involved in repeat accidents and what these individuals are doing or not doing that puts them at risk
• Human factors such as safety attitudes, skills, work habits, and fitness
• Job-related factors such as work spaces, PPE, workload, tasks, procedures, and equipment
• Safety culture issues such as employee participation and training, management commitment to safety, and the accident reporting, investigation, and correction process

Repeat accidents are not inevitable. They can be stopped cold with a cooperative and continuous effort on the part of management and employees to eliminate human error, eradicate unsafe conditions, and continually improve workplace safety.

Tomorrow, we’ll discuss key elements of an accident prevention policy that should be incorporated in everyone’s safety program.

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