ABSTRACT
For years, employers focused on workplace injuries as an indicator that something was wrong with the system. Little, or no attention was paid to what was happening below the waterline in the form of accidents and undesired events that were damaging equipment, tools, materials, and products.
Bridging the gap between traditional injury prevention programs and health and safety management systems (SMS) meant the recognition, investigation, and reduction of accidents that resulted in property and equipment damage.
In their 1966 book Damage Control: A New Horizon in Accident Prevention and Cost Improvement, Frank E. Bird and George L. Germain make a strong case for investigating accidents, not just those cases which produce injuries. They say that the study of accidents instead of injuries does not downgrade the importance of preventing human injury. Rather, it recognizes that many “no-injury accidents” might have resulted in personal injury, property damage, or both.
If an organization is having accidents, then they are more than likely having accidents that damage property or equipment or which interrupt production.
Property-damage accidents are caused in exactly the same sequence as injury-producing accidents. As they also have the potential to cause injury, they should receive the same attention and investigation as injury-producing events. To determine the total cost of risk within an organization, the costing of all losses as a result of undesired events should be done monthly and on a progressive basis.
In the US alone, local fire departments responded to 1,338,500 fires in 2020. These fires caused 3,500 civilian deaths, 15,200 civilian injuries, and US$21.9 billion in property damage. Pollution of land, air, and water due to accidental discharges or emissions is regarded as an accident. Although no injury or work-related illness was experienced, the undesired event caused harm to the environment.
