Examination of Personal Factors in Work Accidents

Abstract

Accidents, by their nature, are sudden events that may cause physical and emotional damage. There are usually several reasons for accidents. In general, the causes of accidents at work may be divided into two. First, unsafe conditions; second, attitudes to the work that cannot be guaranteed. It is the second cause that shows that in spite of good working conditions personal characteristics are very important factors in work accidents. This research examines the effect of personal factors on work accidents in a safe work place where 1200 workers work. Our experimental group of research participants were 50 injured workers who came to the infirmary in May—June 2000. The participants' demographic properties were determined with the help of a questionnaire, then they were given the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (EPQ), a Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI), the Benton Visual Retention Test, the Brief Fatigue Inventory (BFI). A control group was formed from 150 randomly chosen workers who worked at the same place. The same tests were administered to the control group with a one to one interview technique. At the end of the evaluations it was found the injured experimental group participants had lower scores in Benton's test, higher scores in the EPQ questions on neuroticism and 24 h general tiredness. Differences between the experimental and control groups were statistically significant ( p<0.05). There were no significant differences for other variables ( p>0.05). As a result, we believe work entrance health examinations should be given more importance for those work places which have a high risk of accidents. Work entrance must depend on evaluation of the personal characteristics of workers.

Detecting the Impacts of Socioeconomic Factors on Regional Severity of Work-Related Casualties in China

“…The number of occupational casualties and/or differences between countries can result from differences in educational and training background of workers (Hämäläinen et al 2006). Several previous studies, using different data and techniques, concluded that educational level, task experience, and skill training of workers have significant effect on work safety and occupational health (Melamed et al 1999;İşsever et al 2008;Read et al 2012). Workers with high school, middle school, and university or above education were at a statistically significant lower risk for injury than others (Yu et al 2012).…”

“…According to the inverted U-shaped pattern (Moniruzzaman and Andersson 2008), the frequency and severity of work-related casualties in these regions started to decline. In addition, with socioeconomic development, residents' safety awareness, education, and skill training mechanism, health care and social security systems have been strengthened and improved greatly, all of which can help to reduce the frequency and severity of work-related casualties (İşsever et al 2008;Read et al 2012;Yu et al 2012;Joshi and Smith 2002;Hadley 2007). As hypotheses H4 and H4.1 inferred that the level and range of residents' education will have significant negative impact on the severity of work-related casualties.…”

Is a single item stress measure independently associated with subsequent severe injury: a prospective cohort study of 16,385 forest industry employees

“…Stress has been associated with time pressure, which is a well-known risk factor in the safety literature [ 10 ]. Another intervening mechanism could be tiredness: continued stress increases tiredness, which in turn can lead to injuries [ 11 ]. Stress may also lead to carelessness, which is one of the main reasons for occupational injuries [ 12 ].…”

Prácticas de comportamiento seguro en la industria del aserrío de El Salto, Durango, México

“…De acuerdo con Işsever et al (2008), los accidentes industriales también se derivan de las condiciones inseguras que incluyen la física y la ergonomía del lugar de trabajo, así como del comportamiento inseguro de los trabajadores; por lo que, a pesar de que se tengan bajo control todas las condiciones de seguridad en el puesto de trabajo, el comportamiento inseguro humano es el precursor de los accidentes de trabajo.…”