Citation

Kletz TA. Safety Sci. 1993; 16(3-4): 407-415.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1993, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Many companies still use the lost-time accident rate as the main or only measure of safety performance and produce length analyses of the data. I suggested, in 1976, that the effort could be more usefully spent on the collection of data on the failure rates of equipment and people. This has proved to be more difficult than expected. Nevertheless, the use of quantitative methods of risk assessment has grown beyond expectations and uncertainties in the data are not the main source of error.Recent official inquiries have criticised the competence of senior managers, so far as safety is concerned, though not their motives. The paper suggests some aspects of safety to which they might pay more attention, including a better understanding of the nature of human error.