Behavioural epidemiology as a tool for accident research

Williamson, A. and Feyer, A.-M., 1990. Behavioural epidemiology as a tool for accident research. Journal of Occupational Accidents, 12: 207–222.

In this study the incidence and nature of behavioural events preceding work-related fatalities were investigated. All occupational facilities were examined for the years 1982 to 1984. The events preceding the fatality and any pre-existing factors that contributed to the fatality were coded. The coding focussed on such aspects as the environment, equipment design and upkeep, as well as human factors like work practice, supervision, training, medical precursors and task errors. The primary events and contributory factors were ranked and weighted in order to establish the casual relationships between them. Multivariate analysis was used to determine the nature of these relationships across all fatalities.

As this study covers so many types of accidents in such a wide variety of occupational groups, the results provide more specific information about human behavioural epidemiological method to evaluate the impact of different aspects of human error on accident causation. This method will allow highlighting of the most suitable strategies for accident prevention.