Citation

Williamson AM, Feyer AM, Cairns DR. Safety Sci. 1996; 24(1): 1-12.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1996, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Occupational fatalities are thought to have similar origins across different types of work. In this study all occupational fatalities occurring in Australia over a three year period were coded and classified using a method designed to describe the comprehensive causes of accidents. The aim of the study was to determine whether there are general causation patterns for fatalities at work across all industry. One thousand and twenty occupational fatalities were coded for the analysis. Correspondence analysis and cluster analysis were used to describe the patterns and relationships between occupational groups and nature of the accident precursor sequence. The results of the final cluster analysis showed that fatalities occurred in a similar manner for most occupational groups. The major exceptions were timbergetters and electrical trades workers. Two main factors seemed to be important, however, in distinguishing the nature of accident precursors of the occupational groups -- the gross nature of the accident sequence with respect to the involvement of behavioural or environmental factors and the presence or absence of unsafe work practices as contributors to the sequences. There was some interaction between these two factors.