LETTERS TO THE EDITOR — Accidents not fault of workers

I am concerned that your article “Improper motivation main cause of accidents” (T.N.M., June 7/93) may leave readers with the mistaken impression that the Mines Accident Prevention Association of Ontario (MAPAO) believes accidents are the fault of the worker.

The article states that “the basic cause of most accidents (is) improperly motivated’ employees.” This is not correct.

At our Mining Health and Safety Conference, our safety analyst presented statistics drawn from our accident database. These data are based on accident investigation forms sent in by member firms. After identifying on the form the immediate causes of an accident, the investigator is asked to tick boxes to identify the basic or underlying causes.

There are 15 boxes and more than one may be selected. “Improper motivation” was selected in only 17% of cases, so the phrase “most accidents,” as used in the article, is inaccurate.

But there is a more important point. Our accident investigation form, and hence our data, are structured around an accident prevention system from the International Loss Control Institute.

The system teaches that, after basic causes have been identified, the next step is to identify where the management system needs to be improved so as to prevent a recurrence of the problem. In loss control, it is ultimately management’s responsibility to have systems in place to eliminate the basic causes of accidents, including “improper motivation.”

We hope this explanation will help you to understand better our accident investigation process and that it will assist you in interpreting our accident data in the future.

J. R. Geddes

Acting Executive Director

MAPAO

North Bay, Ont.