ABSTRACT
Accident proneness is a long-lived and much-debated concept, with discussion and research of this topic spanning 90 years. Much of the research in this area has adopted either a statistical or a psychological approach, with a few references in medical and psychiatric journals to accident proneness as a personality disorder. This chapter overviews the history of accident proneness research, leading to a review of psychological factors associated with those who demonstrate differential accident involvement and, finally, concluding with implications for organizational policy and practice in relation to accident reduction. Cognitive abilities related to attention and information-processing are likely to be important underlying factors in an individual's vulnerability to accident involvement. The chapter presents consistent evidence that individual differences in personality traits are associated with increased accident liability; therefore, possessing certain personality traits increases one's likelihood to become involved in accidents across domains.
