various factors accidents at workplace
Accidents, in workplaces, are caused by various factors. One of the stories I read involves some form of miscalculation by an employee, which cost them their leg. The subject of the talk is Chandace, who recently found some work in the paper industry near their home. Although Chandace was not employed to carry out hefty tasks in the company, she was always observant of the behavior exercised by the other workers. One of the recurring trends she ever observed was the shortcut used by most workers to move from one end of the mill to another by using the mill’s conveyor belt. However, this idea did not work well for her. Her inexperience must have made her miss the right belt to step on, which made her get trapped in the system for almost half an hour (No Mercy – Students – Accidents at Work, 2020). Although Chandace survived, with a necessary amputation, she was lucky to be alive.
I would analyze such a case based on the human factors theory (Hosseinian and Torghabeh, 2012). There are three factors known to cause accidents according to this theory: overload, inappropriate responses, and inappropriate activities. The first factor, overload, is applicable if we view this accident as a result of a lack of enough knowledge on the task at hand. Chandace may have seen people cross using the conveyor belt for long, but was unsure of exactly the belt that one is supposed to step onto. This might have caused her accident. Also, noise in the surrounding might cause an overload, which might have clouded her judgment. The next factor is inappropriate responses, which, in this case, comes into play due to Chandace’s ignorance of the right procedures to follow. Chandace could have chosen to walk as she had always done but decides to ignore the walking for that day. The last factor is inappropriate activities, which can be used as a judge of all the behavior by other coworkers. Most of them also used this method to reach the end of the mill, which must have raised concerns to the management. However, the fact that people were okay with this irregularity can also contribute to the horrific accident experienced by Chandace.