Prevention of Accidents - Accidents and Losses

The theories of accident causation explained earlier serve as good guide to prevent accident. The factors that may cause accident have been brought in some details and have been attributed to errors at several levels that is at management, supervisor or worker's level. They may be regarded as human error or error of decision. The fault in a machine or equipment may as well become the causative hazard. Such type of a defect may be present because of design or could have arisen due to lack of maintenance.

The other factors concerning internal and external stresses and environmental causes add to hazards that could cause accidents. Prevention of accidents will need controlling all the factors. The basic, principle that "prevention is better than cure" is all the time to be followed. It must also be the objective that if a hazard is identified it must be corrected by introduction of appropriate safeguards. For this purpose it becomes imperative that hazard must be clearly defined. A hazard is described as a condition or combination of conditions that if left uncorrected, may lead to an illness, accident, or damage of property.