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Incident investigations have been shown to be useful in preventing workplace accidents (Kletz, 1988). Lessons learned from accidents can lead to corrective and preventive remedies, which may preclude reoccurrence of similar accidents in the future. The University of South Dakota presently has no incident investigation system for following up on workplace accidents. This thesis tests the hypothesis that a retrospective analysis of previous workplace accidents can rectify the vacuum left by an absence of timely incident investigations. To this end, USD employees who have submitted a First Report of Occupational Injury with the State of South Dakota were surveyed. Survey questions were constructed to elicit employee opinions not only regarding the proximate act that caused the injury, but also of the presence of any contributory preconditions. It is axiomatic that human error is involved in most workplace injuries, but the employee is not the only “human factor” in the equation. The decisions and actions of others are often integral to accident causation and should be looked for. A second survey was submitted to all USD employees, to evaluate employee perceptions of the workplace safety culture. These surveys will help USD Management direct efforts at accident prevention, through identifying the organizational factors (employee, supervisor, environmental, organizational) most often cited as contributing to employee injury.
Advisor: | Berkhout, Jan |
Commitee: | Ezrailson, Cathy, Peterson, Doug |
School: | University of South Dakota |
Department: | Psychology (Human Factors) |
School Location: | United States -- South Dakota |
Source: | MAI 58/06M(E), Masters Abstracts International |
Source Type: | DISSERTATION |
Subjects: | Occupational safety, Occupational psychology |
Keywords: | Human factors, Incident investigation, Safety culture, Workplace injury |
Publication Number: | 13428216 |
ISBN: | 978-1-392-19742-4 |