Applicability and Usefulness of the HFACS-GMI

Abstract

To present information such as causes of accidents and their consequences on the Ghanaian mining industry in the safety literature, classification schemes for incident analysis within the safety literature were studied. Human Factor Analysis and Classification Scheme (HFACS) emerged suitable for incident analysis. Base on its suitability for incident analysis within the Ghanaian Mining Industry (GMI), a derivative of the HFACS, namely HFACS-GMI, was proposed. This research seeks to study the usefulness and the applicability of the HFACS-GMI. Collectively, 56 incident investigation reports were obtained from an open cast gold mine in Ghana and analysed using the HFACS-GMI. Two cases, an equipment damage incident and an injury incident, were used to demonstrate the coding processing in identifying the causal factors. The analysis shows that most mishaps are associated with adverse workplace/operator conditions (151 references), with the physical environment (72.2%) being cited as the major causal code under the tier. Management decision showed a major contribution (74.1%) to mishap under the causal codes. Most cases were attributed to mistake error (57.4%) followed by the contravention (51.1%) of set rules and procedures with the operator's act tiers. Inadequate work standards (27.8%) and failure to ensure competency (24.1%) under the operational process and leadership flaw causal codes, respectively, were identified as the most cited nanocode. Management decision is critical in a mishap and should be given much attention in developing accident prevention strategies. The study has demonstrated that HFACS-GMI is very useful and applicable for incident analysis within the mining industry and is recommended to study causal factors across the mines.