Journal of the Korean Society of Safety (한국안전학회지)

The Korean Society of Safety (한국안전학회)
권호 표지
DOI QR코드

DOI QR Code

Extended Analysis of Unsafe Acts violating Safety Rules caused Industrial Accidents

산재사고를 유발한 안전수칙 위반행위의 확장분석

  • Lim, Hyeon Kyo (Department of Safety Engineering, Chungbuk National University) ;
  • Ham, Seung Eon (Department of Safety Engineering, Chungbuk National University) ;
  • Bak, Geon Yeong (Department of Safety Engineering, Chungbuk National University) ;
  • Lee, Yong Hee (Department of Accident Monitoring and Management, Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute)
  • Received : 2021.11.23
  • Accepted : 2022.05.30
  • Published : 2022.06.30
Download PDF
⟨ Previous Next ⟩

Abstract

Conventionally, all the unsafe acts by human beings in relation to industrial accidents have been regarded as unintentional human errors. Exceptionally, however, in the cases with fatalities, seriously injured workers, and/or losses that evoked social issues, attention was paid to violating related laws and regulations for finding out some people to be prosecuted and given judicial punishments. As Heinrich stated, injury or loss in an accident is quite a random variable, so it can be unfair to utilize it as a criterion for prosecution or punishment. The present study was conducted to comprehend how categorizing intentional violations in unsafe acts might disrupt conventional conclusions about the industrial accident process. It was also intended to seek out the right direction for countermeasures by examining unsafe acts comprehensively rather than limiting the analysis to human errors only. In an analysis of 150 industrial accident cases that caused fatalities and featured relatively clear accident scenarios, the results showed that only 36.0% (54 cases) of the workers recognized the situation they confronted as risky, out of which 29.6% (16 cases) thought of the risk as trivial. In addition, even when the risks were recognized, most workers attempted to solve the hazardous situations in ways that violated rules or regulations. If analyzed with a focus on human errors, accidents can be attributed to personal deviations. However, if considered with an emphasis on safety rules or regulations, the focus will naturally move to the question of whether the workers intentionally violated them or not. As a consequence, failure of managerial efforts may be highlighted. Therefore, it was concluded that management should consider unsafe acts comprehensively, with violations included in principle, during accident investigations and the development of countermeasures to prevent future accidents.

Keywords

Acknowledgement

This paper is supported by the Nuclear Safety Research Program grant funded by Nuclear Security and Safety Commission (NSSC) and KOFONS (No. 2003010).

References

  1. H. W. Heinrich, Dan Petersen and N. Roos, "Industrial Accident Prevention", 5th ed., McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1980.
  2. J. Reason, "Human Error", Cambridge University Press, 1990.
  3. A. Komatsubara, "Mechanism of Violations and Their Ergonomic Measures", Journal of Japan Society for Safety Engineering, Vol. 47, No. 4, pp. 194-200, 2008(in Japanese).
  4. M. S. Sanders and E. J. McCormick, "Human Engineering", New York, McGraw-Hill, 1957.
  5. A. D. Swain and H. E. Guttmann, "Handbook of Human Reliability Analysis with Emphasis on Nuclear Power Plant Applications: Final Report", NUREG/CR-1278, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, 1983.
  6. J. Rasmusen, "Information Processing and Human-Machine Interaction: An Approach to Cognitive Engineering", New York, North-Holland, 1986.
  7. J. Rasmussen, A. M. Petjersen and L. P. Goodstein, "Cognitive Systems Engineering", New York, Wiley, 1994.
  8. D. A. Wiegmann and S. A. Shappell, "A Human Error Analysis of Commercial Aviation Accidents using the Human Factors Analysis and Classification System (HFACS)", U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Aviation Administration, 2001.
  9. J. Reason, "Managing the Risks of Organizational Accidents", Ashgate, Aldershot, 1997.
  10. J. Reason, D. Parker and R. Lawton, "Organization Controls and Safety: The Varieties of Rule-related Behavior", Journal of Occupational and Organiza- tional Psychology, Vol. 71, pp. 289-304, 1998. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.2044-8325.1998.tb00678.x
  11. Department of Defense, "Human Factors Analysis and Classification System - A Mishap Investigation and Data Analysis Tool", No. 16, Dept. of Defense, US, 2005.
  12. D. English and R. J. Branaghan, "An Empirically Derived Taxonomy of Pilot Violation Behavior", Safety Science, Vol. 50, No. 2, pp.199-209, 2012. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssci.2011.08.009
  13. I. G. Hong and J. B. Baek, "A Qualitative Study on Safety Rule Violation Motives at Manufacturing Plants", J. Korean Soc. Saf., Vol. 31, No. 2, pp. 133-142, 2016. https://doi.org/10.14346/JKOSOS.2016.31.2.133
  14. B. Kang, S. H. Han, D. Y. Jeong and Y. H. Lee, "Conceptual Models of Violation Error in a Nuclear Power Plant", J. Korean Soc. Saf., Vol. 31, No. 1, pp. 126-131, 2016. https://doi.org/10.14346/JKOSOS.2016.31.1.126
  15. Domestic Accident Cases, Korea Occupational Safety and Health Agency, 2017~2020, http://www.kosha.or.kr/kosha/index.do.
  16. Domestic Industrial Accident Statistics, Korea Occupational Safety and Health Agency, http://www.kosha.or.kr/kosha/index.do.
  17. A. von der Heyde, "Understanding the Determinants of Safety-related Rule Violations", Ph.D Dissertation, University of Duisburg-Essen, 2015.
  18. H. F. Hawkins, "Human Factors in Flight", Gower Technical Press Ltd, 1987.
  19. R. Kawano, "Medical Human Factor Topics", Saga Medical School, Saga, Japan, 2002.