Citation

Bourassa D, Gauthier F, Abdul-Nour G. Int. J. Occup. Safety Ergonomics 2015; 22(1): 131-141.

Affiliation

a Industrial Engineering Department , Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières , C.P. 500 Trois-Rivières , Québec , Canada , |zG9A 5H7.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2015, Centralny Instytut Ochrony Pracy - Państwowy Instytut Badawczy, Publisher Informa - Taylor and Francis Group)

DOI

10.1080/10803548.2015.1116814

PMID

26652772

Abstract

Accidental events in manufacturing industries can be caused by many factors, including work methods, lack of training, equipment design, maintenance, and reliability. This study is aimed at determining the contribution of failures of commonly used industrial equipment such as machines, tools and material handling equipment, to the chain of causality of industrial accidents and incidents. Based on a case study which aimed at the analysis of an existing pulp and paper company's accident database, this paper examines the number, the type and the gravity of the failures involved in these events and their causes.

RESULTS from this study show that equipment failures had a major effect on the number and the severity of accidents accounted for in the database: 272 out of 773 accidental events were related to equipment failure, where 13 of them had direct consequences in human labours. Failures that contributed directly or indirectly to these events are analyzed.

Language: en