Understanding Specialty Risk: Hazards, Incidents, and Accident Prevention
Understanding Specialty Risk: Key Concepts
Fundamental Concepts of Specialty Risk: The probability that an activity or condition will result in a particular loss.
Key Definitions
- Hazard: Any condition or habit that can be expected with reasonable certainty to cause physical harm.
- Incident: An undesired event that could damage or impair the efficiency of an operation.
- Accident: An undesired event that results in physical harm (injury or illness) to a person, or damage to property.
- Quasi-Accident: An undesired event that, under slightly different circumstances, could have resulted in physical harm.
- Operational Failure: An undesired event that, without causing physical injury to persons or property, deteriorates operating results in terms of quantity, quality, and/or production costs.
The GEMA System
To better understand the causes of unwanted accidents, consider the four main elements or sub-systems involved in the overall operation of a company. These four elements are:
- People: Operating equipment, using materials, in the environment.
- Equipment: Material process, operated by people.
- Materials: Are processed by the equipment.
- Environment: People, equipment, materials.
These four elements must relate and interact properly; otherwise, problems can arise that may result in accidents.
Accident Defined
An accident is defined as an event resulting in physical harm (injury or illness to a person) or damage to property. It is usually the result of contact with a source of energy exceeding the capacity limit of the body or structure.
Consequences of Accidents
Injury is just one of the possible consequences of accidents. The accident is a fact and, as such, has a number of consequences.
Causes of Accidents
There are two major causes of accidents: human factors and environmental factors.
Simultaneity of Cause (Multicausality)
It is normal to find not only one but several causes acting simultaneously in an accident.
Unsafe Actions and Conditions
Unsafe actions and unsafe conditions lead to accidents.
- Unsafe Actions: Defined as any action (things done) or lack of action (things that are not done) that can lead to an accident.
- Unsafe Conditions: Defined as any condition of the environment that can contribute to an accident.
Source and Agent of Accidents
- Source of Accident: The work that the person executed at the time the accident occurred.
- Agent of the Accident: The physical element of the environment that has direct involvement in the generation of the accident. Normally, we find materials, production facilities, buildings, etc.
- Type of Accident: The way in which contact occurs between the person and the object of the environment.
Risk Types
- Pure Risks: Only loss is possible, never gain.
- Speculative Risks: (Financial) Gains or losses are possible.
- Inherent Risk: The risk inherent to the substance or activity itself.
- Allocated (Assigned) Risk: Risks displayed as a result of a control measure.
Risk Management Techniques
- ID: Technique to replicate (can repeat).
Control Methods
- Eliminate: Changes in processes or substances.
- Treat: Reduce the risk.
- Transfer: A third party pays for the loss (insurance).
- Tolerance: Use PPE (Personal Protective Equipment).