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What Are the Causes of Industrial Accidents?

Industrial accidents are unforeseen incidents that are not scheduled or planned and cause injury to employees. These types of accidents accounted for more 1.2 million U.S. employees missing time from work because of nonfatal injuries, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. This 2009 statistic was a decrease of 9 percent from 2008. A host of causes created industrial accidents, and these causes can be placed into different categories. Industrial accidents accounted for 4,340 deaths during 2009, as reported by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

  1. Human Error

    • Most industrial accidents occur because of human error. A worker does not follow the proper safety procedures or is attempting to accomplish a task without the proper equipment. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, as of 2009, 74.8 percent of these injuries occurred in the service-related industry. Most of these injuries were caused because an employee worked on equipment without the proper tools, damaging the industrial equipment and creating a safety hazard.

    Training

    • Many industrial accidents occur because an employee is not trained properly on the use of the equipment or the safety procedures used during the operation and maintenance of the equipment. The manufacturing industry reported 4.3 industrial accidents occurring for every 100 workers during the 2009 work year. Most of these accidents occurred because of lack of training of the employee. The equipment must have qualified operators and these operators must know what to do if something happens to the equipment.

    Manufacturing Defect

    • Industrial accidents also occur because of a manufacturing defect in a piece of equipment or material. During the course of manufacturing several quality-control steps are taken to ensure the equipment is within safety tolerances. Because most of these quality controls are handled by humans, there is a chance that a piece of equipment can have a defect that is missed during the process. The equipment is installed, operated and then fails, causing an industrial accident that can injure or even kill an employee.

    Maintenance

    • One of the common causes for industrial accidents is improper maintenance procedures or the lack of preventive maintenance programs. Equipment cannot run without having maintenance performed on a scheduled basis. Most equipment manufacturers publish a recommended preventive maintenance schedule for the equipment, but the companies and their maintenance personnel are responsible for carrying out these preventive maintenance programs. Like an automobile that does not regularly get fuel, oil or the brakes replaced, a piece of equipment not maintained fails -- at times with consequences.

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