Accident Causation - Accidents and Losses

Several accidents occurs everyday year round in industries. We have already discussed different types of accidents and injuries taken place from them. The accidents incur cost to industry and we will discuss such type of costs at a later stage. In one report on industrial place accidents in USA spectacular figures for a highly industrialized country can be seen. Such figures are reliable because occupational safety Acts are strictly followed there and as such the record maintain and information dissemination are near perfect. The report suggests that number of workers include in accidents in a typical year is 7 million or 3% of all workers.

The report further says that one death occurs every 51 minutes and one injury occurs every 19 minutes in workplaces of the whole country. Indeed the figures are alarming. Such knowledge will raise such question as why do accidents take place. Various theories, over the years, have attempted to explain causes of accidents. These are known as theories of accident causation. Such theories are helpful in planning to avoid accidents.